The higher you are, the further you fall
by wishinonastar
Summary: Brooke & Haley are best friends, and meet Lucas & Nathan on a holiday. After confusion & chaos on the holiday, the four part, but a couple of weeks later, they meet again. Brucas & Naley.
1. meetings & greetings

**Title: The Higher you are, the further you fall.**

**Author: **Hannah

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything, unless I make up a character later on in the story, in which case it's mine!

**Summary: **Brooke & Haley are best friends & meet Lucas and Nathan on a holiday. When they leave, they don't think they're going to see each other again, but a chance encounter brings them back together again.

**Author's Note: **Peyton & Jake may come into the story later on, but they're probably not going to be focused on.

This is my first OTH fanfic, so please r&r and I hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 1: Meetings & Greetings. **

The wind whistled. The branches crackled. The leaves on the deserted path whirled round in circles. The girl stepped onto the pavement, her shoes clip-clopping on the concrete. She didn't seem to breathe. Other than her shoes, she made no sound. No sound at…

"Aaaaaaaaaaah! What the hell? Who the hell are you?" Brooke Davis screamed at the top of her voice. She and her friend Haley, who was hidden under a pillow, had been in the middle of a VERY scary movie, when the lights had been switched on and two huge figures loomed in the doorway.

They did not look happy.

"Well? We came here to watch a film, and have a holiday, something we haven't had in a long time, and you have just come in here, scared me and my best friend to death… and then you won't even speak!"

The two men just stared at her. Until one of them stepped forward. He had dark hair and was tall, and though he had a huge coat on, Brooke could tell instinctively that he had huge muscles underneath. Brooke's mouth dropped open as soon as his silhouette changed so she could see him properly. He was gorgeous.

"We are here because we couldn't get home, as it's my brother's birthday and we were trying to see our parents- but there's a storm. So we found this place, and the guy on the desk told us this was a spare cabin. So we came here, only to find two little girls, screaming at a film…"

"Number 1 Mister, WE booked this cabin months ago, so actually, it's ours. Number 2, we are NOT little girls, and finally, this is a VERY scary film…"

"Erm, and also, number 4, Happy Birthday," came a muffled voice from under a huge pillow.

"Shut up Hales, don't be nice to them! They're the enemy!"

"We're not the enemy," came a soft voice from out of the dark, and Haley saw that he too was gorgeous, "We just want a room to stay for tonight."

"Ok…well I guess…" Haley was being too soft on them, and Brooke didn't like it. THEY'D walked in on her and Haley, not the other way around.

"I got an idea! The first person to scream whether it's a guy or a girl loses. If we lose, 'cos we were here first, then we have to share with you. BUT if you lose, you have to get out. Deal?" A shy, secretive smile was playing over Brooke's lips, but Haley was whimpering behind her. "Oh yeah, I forgot, can we know your names first? I'm Brooke and this is Haley." Brooke held her hand out to the guy that she first thought was hot.

"Well, I'm Nathan," he smiled back, getting over his anger, and appreciating the warmth of her hand. "And this is Lucas, my brother, he's 24 today." Lucas and Haley shared a small, sweet smile.

"All righty then, Misters and Missus, let's get scared!" Brooke was getting excited. She knew she wasn't going to lose. She loved horror movies.

The movie started playing and Brooke advised Haley to put a cushion over her mouth to muffle her screams (in a whisper obviously, because that could be classed as cheating). Brooke, Nathan and Lucas seemed to be enjoying the film, and no-one was going to give in. They were almost at the end of the film, and Haley found herself cuddled up to Lucas, and Brooke found Nathan's arm around her. Neither of them was complaining, however.

The film was getting to its climax, and several gruesome murders were taking place, with bodies being discovered from one room to the next.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

A scream. A scream to decide the future of the four people sat on that sofa in the wood cabin. It was a girl's scream. But not just a girl's scream. Brooke's scream.

"You cheated! You bloody idiot, you cheated! You shouted/whispered 'boo' into my ear when it got to a really quiet bit, knowing that it would shock me! You cheated which means YOU GO!" Brooke was angry. She was now stood right in front of the T.V with a person on the screen being strangled by a television cable. It looked as though Brooke was about to rip out one of the T.V cables, and strangle Lucas with it.

"Did anyone else hear me do anything?" Lucas said, with a small smile creeping across his face, "Haley, did you hear me say anything? I mean, you WERE sitting right next to me." Haley was confused. She didn't want to confess that she'd put the pillow over her mouth, ears ad eyes, so that she wouldn't have a chance in hell to scream and make Brooke mad. SO if she confessed to them all then they'd lose, because it wasn't fair and Brooke would get mad. BUT if she didn't confess then they'd still lose and Brooke would STILL get mad. It was a difficult situation. Haley decided it was best to keep on as many people's good side as possible, and that was to help the boys.

"Sorry Tigger, but I didn't hear anything," she said, after thinking of the best way to say it, mainly so Brooke wouldn't get mad at her. She realised it would be fun to have the guys stay over, and she REALLY liked Lucas, and also, after the initial shock of losing, Brooke would have a great time with Nathan. And really, she wasn't lying. With a pillow over her ears she really couldn't hear anything.

"What? That is so unfair! You should never cheat! It's, like, totally not good for playing games!" Brooke decided it wasn't the best idea to admit she'd just been about to do the exact same thing to Lucas. Some things were definitely best unsaid.

"Haha, you lose, Brookie. I guess the film got even too scary for you!" Lucas couldn't help but laugh. She was taking the fact that she'd lost a bit too far.

"Fine! Well, if you lot are cosy, I'm going to bed. Haley, come up when you're ready, and you two can sleep on the sofa. 'Night Haley, 'Night Nathan." Brooke called deliberately, glaring at Lucas without saying a single word to him.

About 5 minutes later Haley joined Brooke in their bedroom.

"Oh my god Brooke! I think that Luke and I could really get together! He's so funny, and sweet, and kind," Haley had the broadest grin on her face, but Brooke really didn't get what she was so excited about. Lucas? He seemed awful and so stuck up.

"Um…yeah… whatever. Are you sure he's a nice guy, Hales?" Brooke was treading sensitively, she had a feeling she knew where this would lead.

"Brooke, you really need to get over the fact that you lost, quickly, like right now, in fact. 'Cos you're acting like a complete idiot, and if I was Nathan, I really wouldn't find it a turn on." Brooke hit Haley with her pillow. Very hard.

"I DID NOT LOSE! HE CHEATED!" Brooke huddled under the covers and turned over. Haley giggled.

"Ok fine. But please try to get along with him. After…you know who I mean… I think he really is a great guy." Brooke turned back over, shocked Haley had mentioned her ex.

"OK. Good night Tutor girl."

"Good night Tigger."

Jonathon had been Haley's boyfriend for four years back in high school, until, that is, Brooke walked in on him and the head of the debate team on a table. And they were definitely NOT planning debates. The worst part of this was, Brooke had been trying to find Jon to make him go to a party that had already started.

Haley's 17th birthday party to be exact.

Haley had been heartbroken, and six years later still hadn't quite got over him. Brooke had stood up for Haley then, and severely hurt Jon's heel, where she dug her stilleto's in.

Brooke and Haley had been best friends since that day forward. Peyton had told Brooke she had to help organise Haley's party, which she did grudgingly. By the end of it, she really enjoyed organising it, as always, so she decided it would be her job to find Haley's awol boyfriend. Finding the two of them in that room, Brooke had never felt so angry. So Brooke had never really liked Haley, but she wouldn't wish that on anyone. And Brooke thought at that moment, she never really gave Haley a chance. Haley had been her Tutor, hence the name Tutor girl, but Brooke's studies had only been going downhill because of her constant partying, and she could actually do the work, so she took her anger out on Haley.

Peyton, however became friends with Haley, which fuelled Brooke's anger more. But after that party, the three of them became inseparable, and when Peyton went to live with Jake, and Haley and Brooke left to live in New York, the three still stayed firm friends.

Brooke woke up, groaned, and looked at her clock. It was 3:03. She reached over for her glass of water, and found it empty. Cursing, she made her way to the bathroom, tripping over the clothes she had left on the floor the night before.

She opened the bathroom door, and almost screamed, but clapped her hand over her mouth just in time.

"Screaming for the second time tonight there Brookie!" Brooke was fuming.

"You KNOW you scared me before, by cheating, and that is NOT ALLOWED!" Lucas let a cheeky smile fall across his face.

"Wait a minute there, weren't you about to do the exact same thing to me?"

"How did you know? I mean… no I wasn't… I don't cheat!"

"In answer to your first question, we obviously have a lot more in common than you first thought, and anyway, everyone agreed and voted against you."

"Just 'cos you're gorgeous, Mister, does NOT mean you can worm your way around every girl that you meet, especially not me!"

"You think I'm gorgeous Miss Brooke?" Dammit, cursed Brooke- he'd caught her out again.

"NO! I mean… well yeah… I DIN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT!" Brooke had gone bright red, just like she always did when she embarrassed herself in front of a guy.

"Don't worry about it, Brooke, I think you're gorgeous too."

Lucas edged his way towards Brooke until their noses were almost touching. He slipped his arms around her small waist and pulled her to him. The kiss only ;asted fro around 10 seconds before she pulled herself away from him, but she had a fear in her eyes that not many people had ever seen. Though the kiss had not lasted long, ti had lasted long enough for both their lips to burn, their stomachs to flip, and for them both to realise that what they'd just done was so much more than a kiss.

" I can't believe I just did that… to Haley… after everything she said… after everything she's been through… I'm such a bitch… how could I do that? The first person she finds… after so long… and I do this. Oh god. Please Lucas, swear to me, you will never tell ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE, about what just happened, ok?" The urgency, fear and tears in Brooke's eyes was almost too much for Lucas to bear.

"Right, ok, I swear to you. But Brooke, didn't you feel what I just felt?"

"What? I didn't feel ANYTHING. In fact, I've already forgotten about it. Just don't ever tell. Anyone."

And she ran from the bathroom, tears streaming down her face, leaving Lucas in a stunned silence.

**I hope you enjoyed it, if you did please review, and even if you didn't then review and tell me why! Thank you xxxxxxxd**


	2. Connections

**Thank you for all the reviews I got! I think I may have a plan for the rest of the story now thank god. Oh, and I live in England, so if I mention anything about America that sounds stupid, don't shout at me! x x x**

**Chapter 2**

That night, the snow fell rapidly. It fell, and it settled, huge snowflakes, which had the four been outside, would have covered them from head to toe in a matter of seconds, four snowmen. The snow fell silently though, so there was nothing to disturb Nathan, Haley, Brooke and Lucas or to stop them from sleeping.

But Brooke and Lucas stayed awake all night, thoughts charging around their heads.

Next morning, Brooke got up early, though, she grumbled, it was hardly waking up after getting precisely zero hours of sleep the night before. She got dressed, not particularly taking much notice of what she put on, but, typical Brooke, she could still have made a hell of a lot of guy's hearts melt. She was wearing a hue white furry jumper, and blue scarf, with jeans (not the best choice for when it's snowy), and finally, her ugg boots. She avoided the living room like the plague, grabbed a cookie and went for a walk. It wasn't something Brooke Davis usually did, go for a walk, unless she had an armful of shopping bags, but when she needed to think, really needed to think, then she would. And this was one of those occasions.

The cabin that Brooke and Haley had rented, and Lucas and Nathan had invaded, thought Brooke, was in the middle of a large forest, full of Christmas trees. Today was the 5th December, which meant Brooke was almost screaming with excitement for Christmas. She'd gotten everyone's presents bar Haley's so far.

The snow on top of the cabin, Brooke noticed, was 3 foot deep, and Brooke had the urge to go and climb up on the roof, but thought if she made a noise, 3 tired grumpy people would kill her. So she walked down the path a bit, the snow almost going up to her waist, so she didn't exactly get very far in the ten minutes she was walking for. She walked through the forest, knocking into Christmas trees as she went, barely noticing she looked like a Yeti. She came across a small cabin, which didn't look like it had been used for a long time. The slanted roof met at a point in the middle and so Brooke decided on the spur of the moment, to climb up the side. It wasn't far for her to climb- the snow was almost as high as the roof anyway, so she just had to clamber up. She slid over the top, so that she could get a proper view of the pretty little place where she was staying, when she somehow misjudged how steep the other side of the roof was, as the snow had mainly fallen off, and she screamed. So loud that the snow fell off the trees above on top of her.

And then another person screamed. So an even bigger pile of snow fell on top of them.

As Brooke shook the snow from her hair, she realised that the only thing keeping her on the roof was a huge warm pain of arms. Giggling, and not particularly bothering to check or to care who the person she was with was, she wriggled out from his grasp, and began to slide down the roof, not forgetting to grab onto his leg, therefore pulling him down with her. They made a huge track in the snow and then landed on the white snow carpet below that they were consequently buried in.

They both started to giggle, but then realised they were actually stuck in a snowdrift. Brooke couldn't believe her luck. She was on top (or was she underneath? She couldn't tell) of a total stranger, and like in all the wonderful movies she had seen, she knew what was going to happen next.

It was the most breathtaking kiss of her life. Their lips moulded into one, icy snow melting in their mouths, and as they got more passionate, their teeth clicked together, their tongues exploring the others mouth.

"Wow, you know what Brooke, you're amazing." The guy said, and Brooke, so caught up in the moment just carried on. Until she clicked what he had just said.

He knew her name. He was either some weirdo stalker who had followed her everywhere, or it was someone that she had met before. And she recognised that voice. The voice that had at first been so ignorant, had laughed at her, and then finally sounded so loving…

It was Lucas.

Brooke then took in her surroundings. She was in the middle of a forest that she didn't really know very well, she was covered in snow, and the only thing stopping her from freezing were the warm arms of the man she was enveloped in. The arms of the man her best friend in the whole world had just told Brooke she really liked.

Brooke pushed herself out of the snow, flicking her soaking wet hair out of her eyes. She couldn't believe it. What the hell was Lucas doing there? He was in bed, she even saw him lying there.

"How the hell did you get here? I saw you in your bed, ok well sofa, and you were asleep so I don't see how you could have got on top of that roof before me!"

"What the hell are you talking about Brooke? I got here at like 6 o clock, I've been here for hours, letting everything run through my mind, thinking what I should do, so somehow, I couldn't expect you of all people to get up that early. Am I right?"

"But I SAW you in your bed, you were snoring,"

"Brooke, you did NOT see me sleeping on the sofa."

"YES I DID!I got up, got dressed, tidied the room, brushed my teeth, kissed Haley on the forehead, and then walked…ohhhhh!" Brooke clapped her hands to her mouth. Bugger. She'd avoided the living room so she didn't have to see him, and had gone straight to the kitchen. And now she'd just sounded like a nutcase shouting at him. And worst of all, he'd gotten one over on her. "Well, ok, whatever… So what were you thinking about then?"

"If you want me to be honest, I was thinking about you. I was trying to run through my head why the hell you ran out on me last night, when that was the best kiss of my life, and I'm sure you felt that way too, and I figured that it must be about Haley. SO I was just about to come back to the cabin and apologise to you, when you arrived over the top of the roof. So I basically saved your life, and then you pulled me down off the roof, you landed on top of me, and then started kissing me. So I guess that you changed your mind then."

"What! I did NOT start kissing you, you started kissing me, and anyway, I did not know that it was you, I just thought it was some hot guy that had just saved me and really liked me." Brooke was getting confused. She knew she hadn't come onto him, and she didn't know what she was going to say to Haley.

She looked up and saw Lucas pointing at himself.

"What are you doing?"

"Erm, darling, I think that I'm the hot guy that just saved you and who really likes you."

"What the hell? Oh my god! You're so full of yourself. I wouldn't want to be with you, and I definitely wouldn't want Haley to be with you. You do realise that not everyone finds you attractive." And with that, Brooke started to storm off, though the desired effect didn't really work, as it was VERY difficult to storm off when your feet kept getting stuck in the snow.

"You were the one who said I was gorgeous, remember. Last night, you know, when you kissed me." Lucas shouted after her. But she didn't turn round. She just carried on walking, though she looked quite cute, she was finding it very difficult to put one foot in front of the other.

And then, quite comically, she just toppled over right onto her face, and got buried head first in the snow. When she got out again, her hair was bright white, and it clashed with her cheeks that were flame red.

"You did NOT just see me do that!" She screamed and turned on her heel and stomped, a bit more carefully than the last time, off back to the cabin.

Lucas chuckled to himself and lifted himself up onto the roof.

" Women."

When Brooke returned back at the cabin, there was a strong, gorgeous smell of bacon sandwiches. She inhaled and opened the door, basking in the warmth of the kitchen.

There in front of her, was the cutest sight ever. There was Haley being her absolute self, cooking with flour all over her face with Nathan, who was also covered, They were both giggling and singing, and they were so wrapped up in themselves that they didn't even notice that Brooke was there until she screamed at them.

"HELLO! I NEED FOOD HERE PEOPLE, I'M ABSLOLUTELY STARVED!SO QUIT IT WITH THE SINGING AND BRING ME MY BREAKFAST!"

Nathan and Haley giggled, but obliged, and before long, both Brooke and Lucas, who had arrived around 5 minutes later, and Nathan and Haley, were all tucking in to the most enormous bacon sandwiches ever.

Later on that day, a big lorry came and swept all the snow from out of the road. This was the cue for the brothers to leave.

"Hope to see you soon," Nathan whispered to Brooke, his smile making her laugh as usual, though she knew she really didn't want to see either of them again, as if she met Nathan then Lucas would have to come into the picture again, and that would bring complications that she really didn't want to deal with.

"See you Hales," Lucas said to Haley, and they both shared one of their smiles, though Lucas knew that he could never feel the same way about Haley that she did for him, and he could only feel that way for Brooke, though he doubted whether she even liked him

Lucas and Brooke's hug lasted for less than a second, Brooke pulling away before their bodies had even touched.

Haley and Nathan started laughing as soon as they came close to each other, and their hug was probably the most genuine of all, as only they knew of the connection that they had made while the other two had been out that morning.

As Nathan and Lucas pulled away in their car, they both had quite subdued faces, both wondering whether they would ever see the two girls again.

"That was quite a day," said Nathan, to which Lucas only grunted a reply back.

And as Haley and Brooke packed their clothes, they both weren't looking so happy either. They were packing as they'd both agreed that if they stayed any longer then they'd probably get snowed in again, and wouldn't be able to return home.

"That was quite a day wasn't it Tigger?"

To which Brooke remained silent, made her excuses, and left the room.

**So there's chapter two. The next chapter will be back where they both live, and set a couple of weeks in the future, so there's a lot of Chrismas shopping going on!**

**Hope you enjoyed this, and please review!**

**x x x x x**


	3. Shopping!

**Thank you for all the reviews and support you've given me…so here's another chapter…sorry if it's later then you wanted it,but there's school and stuff so it's difficult sobsob j/k lol xxx**

Chapter 3:

"Brooke!... BROOKE! BROOOOOKE DAAAAAAAVIS!" Grr, grumbled Brooke, she had just gotten settled down to have a nice bath, and she'd just got to the nice part of her meditation. Not that she was actually meditating, it was just her word for being in the bath and basically daydreaming. So instead of thinking about Buddha, she was actually replaying the last episode of the O.C in her mind. But Summer Roberts had been swapped to Brooke Roberts. And Seth Cohen was completely in love with her, obviously.

"Brooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooke!" God, cam't a girl be left in peace?

"Ok, so Miss Brooke, do not be alarmed, but I'm coming in." And without giving Brooke the chance to protest, Haley James entered the bathroom.

"I'm just here to tell you, Brooke, that I'm going to that little place out of town where I get all my Christmas pressies ok?"

Brooke nodded. That was all? Brooke had been yanked out of her spiritual place just to be told that Haley was going out? God, that girl had no sense of priorities.

Disturbed, Brooke decided she may as well just get out of the bath, though she whimpered as the water that was filled with VERY expensive bath thingys washed down the plug hole. HALEY'S very expensive bath thingys.

Oopsys. Oh well, thought Brooke. It all came back to Haley really. If Haley hadn't interrupted Brooke, she would have been making good use of them.

But just to make sure Haley wouldn't get mad, she added some of her own, cheaper bath stuff that she had bought, knowing full well that all she was going to do was use Haley's. Brooke filled Haley's bath bubbles up with hers, but unfortunately, they didn't mix.

But that didn't matter. Brooke had seen enough makeover shows to know what to do next.

She got a spoon, one that Brooke was sure she had never seen before, and started mixing the gels together. That was when she smelled burnt toast.

"Oh crap," she muttered. That was all she needed. And when she got to the kitchen, the toaster was covered in burnt jam.

"Oh yeah," Brooke exclaimed in surprise and then she giggled, remembering the crash course that Haley had given her in toasting bread, that had consequently flown out of her mind until this point in time, "I remember now. Haley said you put the jam on the toast AFTER you toast the bread. Oops."

No. 1 on her list: Buy new toaster.

Brooke rushed upstairs, to have a look at how her cover up was going. Not well was the answer.

The nice blue of Haley's bubbles had now turned to a brown mush. It was obvious to Brooke that you couldn't do the same thing with bath bubbles as you did with paints.

"Ah well," Brooke giggled, " I guess I'll just have to go shopping!"

Haley was stumbling round the shopping place that she always used for her Christmas presents. She'd described to Brooke that it was a very small place. But actually it was huge. A huge shopping mall- Brooke's idea of heaven. Haley had no idea how Brooke had not heard of it, apart from the fact that it was two hours out of New York, and Brooke could never be bothered to go out any further than the outskirts of New York.

Haley started to shop around, when she started getting abuse from some teenage boys who were causing chaos. They were shouting insults at her, ones that she wouldn't even dream to repeat. They encircled her, getting more malicious every step they took close towards her.

Then one of them came right up to her face. Haley was frightened. She knew it, and she knew that they knew it.

"Hey you guys, please get out of my way, and stop hassling people. If you DON'T, I am sure my black belt karate ass will kick you outta this town."

And with that, the boys scarpered, leaving the rescuer's face to be revealed.

"Haley? Oh my god! Are you ok? I didn't realise it was you, or I really would have beaten those kids up…"

"Well thank you. I think I'm alright now."

"I can see that you're kind of shaken up about all of this. Let me take you home. We'll go and make you a hot chocolate, I'm an expert."

Haley wasn't sure. Would he count as a stranger?

But it was almost as if he could read her thoughts.

"Look, Hales. It's not as if I'm a stranger, am I? I mean we did share a cabin together for a night didn't we?"

"I suppose…"

"Well then, let's go."

And the two of them linked arms and set off, out of the shopping mall, Haley not carrying half of the things that she actually needed.

Brooke's day had been going quite well, not as good as some of her shopping days, but better than a few.

She'd got the toaster that she had to replace. She'd taken the old one and convinced the hot guy at the checkout that it had not been her fault about what happened, but the instruction booklet didn't explain it properly. So she got it for free. Then she'd also convinced him to take it back to their flat, as it was only 5 minutes away, and he was about to finish his shift.

The bath liquid she'd convinced this spotty little kid was gone off, and so she'd gotten those for free. This was small enough to fit in her handbag, so she was able to leave the little guy quivering in his size 5 boots.

Then, after all the boring stuff was done, Brooke decided to actually do proper shopping. She'd gotten used to having no money anymore, and she'd perfected the art of shopping with a nothing budget. She didn't steal, she'd never stoop that low, but she made up a system all the same.

She'd go through ALL the rails, and would take the most clothes that she could from the rail. And for some reason, the sales assistants liked her.

Oh yeah. That was because her boss was their most valued customer. And her boss loved Brooke. A circle that Brooke loved to be part of.

So Brooke took the most clothes that she could carry, and entered the changing rooms. She was feeling like she needed to let off some steam and so she had the hugest pile of gorgeous expensive dresses, skirts, tops and trousers, and she couldn't see over the top of them.

She heard the shop assistant telling her to walk on through, and she also said something else, but Brooke had already walked past and couldn't hear what she was saying.

She walked, or maybe even sauntered into the changing rooms she loved so much and walked straight into the changing cubicle that she always used. The cubicles had curtains for doors, and she knew that hardly any girls ever used this shop, because they didn't know the goodies that it held. And also, probably the most important reason, Brooke's boss had ordered for Brooke to have her own cubicle, which even had her name on it.

She came up towards it, and walked straight through and into it.

She screamed.

And someone else screamed. Not a girly scram like she had expected, but a low gruff yell.

"What…the…hell…are…you…doing…in…my…cubicle?" breathed Brooke. There was a man, who must have been in his fifties getting changed in her cubicle.

"What am I doing here? What do you think you're doing in here? I was here first. Can you not read signs?" This man was now getting on Brooke's nerves. First of all he dares to go into her changing room, then he makes her drop all of the clothes that she had been carrying. And now he shouts her? This man was going to get all she had got.

"What are you talking about? This is MY changing room. And also, what the hell are you doing in the ladies changing rooms? Are you a pervert or something?" The man now looked as though he was about to explode. So Brooke carried on. " Look, if you are even THINKING about arguing back. I have come to this shop for over 5 years. I think I know where the changing rooms. And… I'm sure that the woman behind that curtain wouldn't mind me quickly opening it just to prove a point."

Brooke stormed up to it, and ripped it open.

"Oh shit."

One may be a mistake. Two was definitely not.

But oh my, what a body. But that was not the point.

"Do you see! You stupid little slut. Thinking you can come into the men's and have a laugh. Well you can't, so get out!"

Brooke ran out of the changing rooms, tears streaming down her face. She got to the entrance of the changing rooms, and burst into heavy sobs once again. There in bold red letters were the words.

**The changing rooms have from today swapped over. **

**We are sorry for this inconvenience.**

Brooke had never been so humiliated. This was worse than when Haley had performed in that awful play.

She ran out of the store, not stopping until she got into the car park. She didn't know what to do. She had nowhere to go. She couldn't walk down the street looking like this.

"Brooke! Wait up!"

Oh god. Brooke knew that voice. It was him. And that's when it hit her. He was the guy in the changing room. This was even worse than it had been before.

"Look, if you've come to laugh and mock at me, I really don't want to hear it, alright?"

Then there was silence. And a deep breath.

"Have you even seen what I look like?" Brooke turned.

She couldn't help it. But she had to laugh. Or laugh through the tears at least. Lucas Scott was standing before her in only his Calvin Klein boxers.

"And you're accusing me of going to laugh at you! Jeez, women! Look, before you say anything else, I just want you to know that I shouted at that guy for calling you that, 'cos that was really out of order. And also, I just ran out of and straight through the middle of a huge shopping mall wearing just this."

Brooke smiled. He really was a nice person.

"Thanks for that, you know, after all I did to you, you really didn't have to."

"Well, do you need a hug?"

"Erm… I'm not sure…you know…"

"Look, this is nothing more, it's just a hug, to make you feel better, and to warm me up a bit I guess, 'cos I'm freaking cold."

They hugged, and they both tried to ignore the pulsing sensation going through the whole of their bodies.

"Hey, look, do you want to come to my house? Just as friends, I promise, to make you feel better, it's not far."

The pair walked, with Lucas Scott's arm firmly around Brooke Davis' waist.

Despite the odd clothing, or at least the lack of clothing that one of them was wearing, everyone they passed knew that they looked good together.

And that, even if they didn't realise it themselves, they were meant to be.

**Hope you know who Haley's with then! Next chapter is what happens at the two houses.**

**Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it and please review!**

**xxxx**


	4. Explore to find out more

**Gawd, i'm sorry it's been so long, but i've been really busy and it's all like aah…stupid hmrk.**

**Anyway, here is the next chapter, hope you like it, and please review!**

**(ooh and thanks for all your reviews for the last chapter!"**

Chapter 4- Explore to find out more

"Truth."

They'd been playing this for ages, and neither one of them had given in to going for a dare. He laughed. This wasn't going to get any more exciting if they carried on like this- he ay as well leave, but he really didn't want to do that. All he'd found out so far was that she had a bunny called freckles when she was little, and she still had a teddy bear called Bubbles.

"Come on….this is getting boring…..and I may just have to leave if it doesn't get any more interesting, in say the next two minutes.." He saw her face fall, that was exactly what he'd wanted to see...get her thinkin', "I'll do a dare if you do one…and so you can make yours twice as bad as mine is."

She was thinking it over, he could tell. Her eyes were sparkling as thoughts raced through her head of what horrors she could make him do.

But he already knew what he'd make her do…he'd been planning it. That may sound sick, he realised that…but he couldn't help it… and it wasn't that bad a thing…he was sure she wanted it as well as she did.

"Okay then, mr big guy, but I'll have you know that I am VERY good at dares, this sweet outside appearance is VERY deceptive." She gave him death glares. Which didn't really seem like death stares, they just made him laugh. And laugh. And then fall off the sofa.

"Hahaa, smooth. Go on ahead with your dare then…"

"I dare you to……… kiss me quick." He'd said it. But as soon as he had, all the colour drained from her face, so he thought he'd give her a little encouragement, "of course… if you're to chick…"

But she didn't even give him the chance to finish his sentence. She took the opportunity and took advantage of it.

"Oh…and Nate... I dare you to… kiss me back."

"I'm sure that can be arranged, miss Haley James."

Brooke was shocked. It may have been rude, but she didn't think they'd have such a big house. Nathan and Luke, she meant. It was only a flat, but compared to hers and Haley's house it was enormous!

Lucas went to find some clothes, to protect his dignity, and invited her to sit down. But she didn't want to spoil the gorgeous leather sofas so she decided to have a look around.

The lounge was like one of those ones she used to see when she lived with her mom, in all the posh catalogues, everything in the right place. How they kept it so well, when they were such laddish guys, she couldn't work out.

The kitchen would have made Haley scream. Brooke, her speciality being beans on toast didn't know the difference between most kitchens, but she could tell that this was something special. The tiles glistened and it was just s perfect… she couldn't help but think that she'd love to live in this house.

As long as she didn't have to cook, clean or any of that boring stuff that was included in living in a house. Haley'd have to move in as well.

Only problem with that was the fact that she knew Haley still had feelings for Lucas. And, though Brooke didn't want to admit, she didn't even want the thought to have a chance to poison her mind. 'Cos that's what it would do, and the worst thing possible to do was to betray your best friend. She knew that much.

After exploring the whole of the downstairs of the house, and Lucas having not come downstairs yet, she decided to go explore her favourite parts of any household.

The bedrooms. But not for the predictable reason. But because a persons bedroom told you the most about them. Especially if they didn't realise you were going to go in there, because they couldn't tidy it all up.

Going up the stairs, and then turning to the right she came across a room with basketball posters all over the doors. She had a feeling she knew whose room this was.

Typically she was right. The room was covered in either basketball posters or pictures of models. She guessed that if she transported this room to where he used to live, it would have almost been the same since he was around 15. Ah well. She guessed Nathan would never grow up.

Something caught her eye on his desk at the far side of the room. It was a picture.

The guy on it was Nathan, looking handsome as usual, a huge smile across his face, but the girl next to him shocked her.

It was Haley. The picture must have been taken whilst she was out for a walk and that thing, as she now liked to call it, was happening. The two of them had their arms around each other, and their eyes had a connection that Brooke could see even through the photograph.

Underneath were a whole bunch of photos taken of the two of them. Some of them were just of Haley, who looked like she was cooking, but as per usual, Brooke had no idea what. And then some of the other photos were just of Nathan, but these were very bad photos. Haley had never had a great talent for taking pictures. In every one there was a bit of her finger, or some of her hair, in one, and Brooke had no idea how, she'd managed to take a picture of herself.

Brooke could see how perfect the two of them looked together, they balanced each other out perfectly. Instead of being exactly the same as Lucas, Haley should be with someone who was totally opposite of her, but who could care for her.

Brooke just didn't know if Haley would ever realise this.

Brooke stopped with the deep thinking- she had to admit, if she did it too often, it didn't really seem like her anymore.

She moved on to the next room which had pictures of fishes on it the front of it. It wasn't hard to guess what this room was, but as she loved taking baths, and she wanted to live in this house, it was the natural thing to do, or at least it was in Brooke's mind. She still hadn't realised that what she was doing, snooping round someone's house, was wrong, and rude.

Opening the door, she gasped. She shower was like a freaking pool! And it was all pink marble. This room was definitely designed by a woman. And it was a style that Brooke loved. This house was getting more perfect by the minute.

The next room had bumblebees on the front, but Brooke couldn't really see Lucas having bumblebees on his door. So what could it be?

This was when Brooke realised that she shouldn't actually be doing what she was doing. It was kind of like breaking into someone's house, apart from she'd been let into the house.

She couldn't decide whether to open the door. If she'd thought it was Lucas', then she'd have strided right in, not giving a damn, just like she had with Nathan's, but they hadn't told her about anyone else living with them, so this was getting unnerving.

"Stop it, you're Brooke Davis, you can do anything. You can take a little peek, just a little one, they won't mind, it can't hurt."

Oh crap, she thought, she was talking to herself. Which meant she was getting kinda stressed out.

She decided to just go for it. She might as well.

Again she gasped at the sight in front of her, but this time, it wasn't because the room was beautiful, it was, but it was a nursery. A nursery for a baby, but without the baby.

The walls were a sunny yellow, and like the door had indicated, they were cover in bumblebees, and then flowers and butterflies. There were enough toys for at least ten children, though without trying to brag, she guessed this must have been what her nursery was like when she was small.

She saw some pictures, well photographs, hung up on the wall and walked over to them. There was a woman, a very pretty woman, and even though she didn't know who the woman was connected to, she felt a stab of envy rip through her heart. With the woman was a small child, a baby boy, she thought, unless this woman had absolutely no sense of style and was dressing her baby in boyish blue.

She walked out, hoping that Lucas wouldn't see her.

Onto the last room upstairs, and she guessed that this must be Lucas' room, unless he slept outside. And she was right. On the door were the basketball poster like Nathan's, but they were, if she dared say it, more tasteful, and when she entered, she saw a big difference to the other guys room. No horrible posters lined the walls. And books. A lot of books.

And then there, in the centre, was an absolutely gigantic bed. And laying on it, asleep, still in his boxers, but now looking about ten years old, was Mr Lucas Scott. He looked so adorable, lying there, she just wanted to jump on him and give him a huge hug, but she refrained, and just kissed him on the forehead, before deciding it was time to leave.

She closed the door quietly, hoping that, like today, she would be able to meet Lucas again.

She couldn't help it, but she had feelings for him. Feelings that she wanted to go away, for Haley's sake. Feelings she needed to go away, if the baby was his.

Feelings that wouldn't go away.

**I hope you liked it, but I don't know if you got a bit bored with all the house bit, but I just did and got a bit carried away. Please review if you liked it, or even if you didn't like it!**

**xxx**


	5. First Dates

**Yeah, it's been ages, but we've had trouble with the comp/ internet and I've had coursework and all sorts!tch. GCSE's. better be worth it in the end. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the others.**

**Oh, and I know like none of you want the baby to be either Lucas' or Nathan's, but it has to be, you just gotta guess who.**

**Thanks to all you reviewers, you make my day ;)**

Chapter 5- First dates.

"Helloooo, Broooke," she warbled down the phone, " it's me!"

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to get that, cos it's like, what, 5 in the morning?" a sleepy voice groaned back,

"Brooke! It's 1 in the afternoon! You've been sleeping all this time?" Haley had been out shopping since 8, and she'd expected Brooke to be up at this time, she'd timed it perfectly as she usually did so that Brooke would be up, and awake enough not to snap at her, which meant Brooke being awake for over 2 hours after breakfast, a bath, and a large supply of cookies.

Today that didn't seem to be the case.

"Um yeah, I guess I had a lot on my mind last night, I couldn't get to sleep," grumbled Brooke, she just realised that she had to tell Haley what she was feeling, they were bestest friends forever, but she didn't know if what she was going to say would break Haley's heart.

"So what's up?" Haley was pretty excited, she couldn't get over what had happened the evening before, and she had to tell Brooke. But that was going to be one of the hardest things she would have to do. She was usually so excited to tell Brooke who she had fallen for, though this hadn't happened in a long time, not since Jona…no, she didn't need to be reminded. Then she snapped back to the present, where Brooke was babbling on about how something had happened that had made her feel really bad, or something,

"Woah, cool it Brooke, I was only asking what you were doing!"

Crap, thought Brooke, she really wasn't awake yet, and she was acting kinda thick. Luckily, Haley must have been in her own little Haleyland and hadn't heard what Brooke was babbling about.

"Look, Brooke, I need to speak to you! Something's come up, and I need to talk to you about it, so meet you at the coffee shop in say 10 minutes?"

"Haley, have you forgotten who you're talking to?"

That was better, thought Haley, she was worried Brooke was upset about something, but with that little comment, it seemed she was alright,

"Okay then, 15, but if you'r not here in 20, then I'm coming to get you,"

"Ciao then Hales."

But the phone had already been put down. There really must have been something the matter with Haley, she ALWAYS had to say the last goodbye, as if she didn't, she was worried something would happen to her, and she'd have never said goodbye to you.

So that was kinda strange.

"OOOOOooooh! Thank god you're here, I was getting worried!"

"Haley, I've been 16 minutes, and I was counting, so don't complain!"

"Okay, whatever Miss Perfect, I really do have something to tell you," Brooke noticed there was a glint in Haley's eye, one she hadn't seen in a long time, but she still couldn't take the guiltiness that she was feeling away from herself.

"Erm, yeah, so I have something to tell you too,"

"Okay, well then Brooke, you're the oldest, so you get to go first,"

"Nooooo, Haley! You're the youngest, so you have to go first! It ain't fair! I always have to do things first 'cos I'm the oldest!

"That may be, but you also CHOSE to do a lot of things first, so you can't really comment,"

"Oh shut up, Haley, that really is a very snide comment which I do not appreciate in the slightest," and Brooke pouted, hoping that she'd win the argument, but not bothered in the least by Haley's accusations,

"Right, well, as always, we'll do it together, after 3………1………2………3!"

"I like Luathan," They both cringed together,

"What?" And now they were both confused,

"I'm into Nucas." And then they both realised what the other was saying. And breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Right, so, as I'm oldest I get to now comment first about what we both just said," Haley sighed, this always happened, but she wasn't bothered, "You like Nathan? I really didn't see that coming! Anything happened?"

"Okay so in answer to your first question, yes I like Nathan, and I think he likes me too, and in answer to your statement, I don't see how you can comment after you admitting you like Lucas! And finally, he came to our house yesterday, you know, I met him when I was out shopping, and hey! Stop with that face! We only kissed, nothing more!"

"Oh, you do not know how much I am glad that you said that, I thought you still like Lucas, so I was getting worried and all, and wait a minute? What is wrong with me and Lucas? Don't we suit each other or something? Can't you imagine what we'd look like together?"

"Brooke, listen… it's not hard to imagine you too together, after I've seen what you look like with almost every guy type there ever has been and ever will be, no offence intended,"

"And no offence taken. But I don't know if he likes me back, I mean we didn't kiss or anything, and I saw this really freaky thing, there's a nursery at their house, all filled with baby stuff, and there was this picture of a little baby with their mom, and you know, 'cos Luke and Nate are brothers, the baby doesn't immediately look like either of them."

"Brooke, Lucas and Nathan look nothing like each other!"

"Hmm, that may be so, but so? Babies look all the same, like little frogs! SO how was I supposed to know whose it was?"

"Typical you Brooke, but I'm sure the baby isn't Lucas or Nathan's, I'm sure one of them would have told us. SO when you going to see him next?"

"Well, as I was leaving his house, I kinda took his cell phone, so I now know his number, well home, and I have a very good excuse to meet up with him!"

"That is geniusful Brooke!"

"I know, see sometimes Hales, I really can challenge you for being the cleverest out of the two of us!"

"Yeah, sure you do! Now go ring Lucas and ask to meet up!"

Brooke pulled out his cell and hers, after all, she wasn't a horrible person, so she wouldn't add to his bill. She typed in his number into her phone and waited for it to start ringing.

"Haley, hold this for me a second, I'm just going over there to talk to him, and I don't want any eavesdroppers."

After about 30 seconds, Brooke hurried back to their table whining.

"Haley… it's not ringing! I don't get it! Haley! Haaaley! What are you doing using his phone? That is so rude!"

Haley wasn't listening. She said goodbye to the caller and hung up.

"What were you doing? You have your own phone! When he gets that back, and then his bill, he will be sooo angry, and I'll blame you!"

"Erm Brooke dear, that was Lucas on your phone, you gave me your phone instead of his, and it was already ringing so I decided I'd better answer it."

Brooke went red and stormed off. She could tell she'd done something pretty stupid, and she didn't want Haley, and all of the people in the café, to laugh at her. And now Haley had spoilt the one chance that Brooke had to get together with Lucas again.

"Hey Brooke, he's picking you up at 7. And he wants his phone back!"

Brooke ran back into the café, not caring that she was sending coffees, cakes, and people flying as she did so. She gave Haley a huge hug, and then walked out again.

5 seconds or so later, Brooke returned, slightly red in the face, but she guessed everyone would be used to her by now, and sure enough, as she entered the people at their tables either picked up their coffees, or hid them.

Haley handed both phones to Brooke, without a word, as she knew if she tried to say anything, she'd burst out laughing and Brooke would get into a major strop.

Haley looked at her watch and began to time the seconds going by. She guessed a minute, and without fail, on 58 seconds, Brooke entered again, more proud this time, she might as well be, and gestured to Haley.

"You don't need to say anything Brooke, I'll help you find your outfit."

5 hours later, and after exhausting Haley and the two shop assistants, she decided to go for the outfit she had tried on in the first half an hour.

She tired it on again, she always had to have a second look, and as before, it was perfect.

"Okay, so Haley, I'm done, now it's your turn."

"But Brooke, unlike you, I don't have a date with a hunky Lucas Scott."

"Oh yeah, I kinda have something to tell you, I forgot I hadn't told you already. You know when you gave me that hideous top you wanted me to try on, and it took me ages to get into it, and then I didn't want to come out because it looked so awful… and don't look like that Haley, it really was awful… yeah, so instead of trying it on, I called Nathan, and now you too have a date with a hunky Scott!"

At exactly 7:15, both Haley and Brooke walked out of their bedroom, to open mouths from Lucas and Nathan.

Haley was wearing a wrap dress over jeans, which seemed to change colour every time she moved. And then Brooke looked amazing too, with a dark purple bustier and grey drainpipe jeans.

"So you two, shut your mouths! We don't want you showing us p wherever you're taking us tonight!"

The food had been perfect, the wine had been perfect, the company had been perfect-

All in all the date had been perfect.

" Brooke, how come you decided to give me a chance after what happened at the cabin?"

Brooke was silent. She had bean mean at the cabin, or in the wood anyway, but she didn't particularly want to admit it.

"Look Luke, I really thought that Haley liked you and then when I realised I liked you, I felt so guilty that I had to try and push you away. Oh yeah, and I guess I have to admit something, I knew it was you on top of that roof- though I hadn't seen you, I could sort of sense it, and that scared me. And then when you kissed me it was kind of obvious. And now I told you that, can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah, sure, anything."

"Oh but I got another confession to make before I ask. When I was at your house, I kind of started snooping, and I'm really sorry, but I couldn't resist, I didn't mean to, but that's just what I'm like, so if you wanna be with me, which I hope you still do, you're gonna have to accept that. Yeah, so I'm babbling, so I'll just carry on. Erm, I was looking around, and I found this one room which was different to all the others, and unless I am completely stupid, I think that it was a baby's nursery. So, my question is, whose is the baby?"

There was a silence for a while, which seemed to Brooke like hours. She shouldn't have admitted to looking round, she should have waited for him to tell her in his own time. She got up to walk away, she knew that he wouldn't want to be with her after what she'd done. But his hand on her arm stopped her. She turned around, and noticed that he had a gleam in his eye, something she hardly ever saw him have,

"Brooke, the baby's mine."

**Okay, so this was supposed to have Nathan and Haley's date as well, but it was getting long and I got bored. Hope you like it. And the bit where Brooke didn't understand what Haley was talking about when she said What's up, that was dedicated to Emily, 'cos I said that to her.Please review.**

**xxx**


	6. Fear, shock and resentment

**Okay, so I only just noticed that all the little lines I put on Word don't show up on fanfic, so I'm really sorry as you probably all found that all reeeally annoying. SO now scenes are going to be shown with XXX, I think, but I might change my mind…**

**So I don't think you'll guess what's going to happen here, and you might hate me…sorry…hopefully you won't hate me for long.**

**By the way, Cesca is pronounced Chesca, short for Francesca, jus if you didn't know…**

**xxx**

XXX

Chapter 6- Fear, shock & resentment

"You know, it's been wonderful tonight, so I guess I just have to say thank you." Haley couldn't believe the night they'd just had. Instead of being a typical guy and trying to buy her for the evening, Nathan had taken her to a really small restaurant, and they'd just talked, while eating of course. And now they were walking through the park, just talking, about anything, and everything.

"Hey, you feel like sitting down for a moment?" His voice seemed to suit the night and Haley couldn't help but smile. They sat, with the moon in front of them, and the rest of the park surrounding them.

"So what do you actually work as then Nathan?" It sounded weird, but work was one topic of conversation that hadn't come up at the restaurant, though they had worn out every other.

"Well, my dad owns car companies all over, so Lucas and me run the one here in New York and my dad now works at the one he set up in Tree Hill, which was the first he started-"

"Tree Hill? That was where me and Brooke grew up! How come we never knew you? In Tree Hill everyone knows everybody's business; it's hard to keep eligible bachelors a secret."

"Wow, I guess it's a small world huh? But we never actually lived in Tree Hill, not properly in any case. We lived in England all our lives, our dad was setting up the business overseas as well, and he did good, so we stayed there until we were 18, when we went to Uni in England, and Mom and Dad moved back to Tree Hill. When we finished, we both decided we didn't want to live in a small town like Tree Hill, we wanted the city, so we came here."

"So wait a minute, your dad has a huge car company in Tree Hill right? SO, if I'm correct, your dad is Dan Scott! So hence the last name, duh!" Haley couldn't believe it, she was sitting in a park with the youngest son of Dan Scott! Only the richest guy in the whole of Tree Hill, and Tree Hill was a place full of the wealthy. She couldn't wait to tell Brooke, which made her think of Brooke, and how her date was going with Lucas.

"I wonder how Brooke and Lucas are getting on…oh god, I said that out loud? I shouldn't have said that, you'll be just like Jonathon, not wanting to hear about anything but us whilst we're together." Haley had made this mistake more than once when she was with Jonathon, and mentioned someone who definitely wasn't part of their date, ie Brooke, Peyton and Jake.

"What's wrong with saying that? I think it's sweet you care for all the people in your life, it's the reason I like you so much." Haley beamed, she couldn't believe how comfortable she felt around Nathan, she felt like whatever she said, he wouldn't laugh.

"Haley, what would you say if I kissed you right now?" She smiled.

"Would I be able to say anything at all?" They both smiled, one of those smiles which could last forever, and they sank down beneath the stars.

"I love you Haley James,"

The music, lights, and everything else surrounding the pair stopped. Haley froze, not knowing what to do, or what to say. She scrambled to her feet, knowing the only thing she could do was run, get out of the situation that was making her feel so awful. She wasn't fast enough however, and soon she felt strong arms encircling her, but instead of feeling warm and comfortable like she usually did when he hugged and held her, now she felt cold and suffocated.

"I'm so sorry Haley, what I just said, I know I shouldn't have said it, it's only our first date and stuff, but man, I can't get you out of my head, you're there all of the time, and I like it, and as I've always been told to say how I feel and be done with it, I thought I'd just come out and say it, be done with it, and now I now you just don't feel the same way, and I feel so stu-"

"Look, the reason I'm running is because no-one has ever said that to me… and meant it. You see after Jonathon said it, he started spurting all that crap about wanting to say it in case he never got the chance again, so I believed him, and look where that got me, he never meant it, he just made it all up, to make himself look good, going out with the perfect miss Haley James, and this is just like all happening again, so I have to go, I'm sorry.

This time she ran, and he didn't follow her. She looked back once, when she had got to the gate where they had come in, less than an hour before, when everything had been so simple. She saw him standing in exactly the same place she had left him, his silhouette showing a sense of loneliness, a broken man, and she'd done this to him. But she couldn't go back, she didn't know how to react. She kept on running, until her feet took her places where she didn't know where she was, places she wouldn't have dreamed to set foot in in the daytime, never mind at night.

Her feet took her straight into the arms of a Mr Jonathon Galloway.

XXXXXXXX

He let go of her arm, knowing he couldn't make her stay, it was her choice. He wanted her to accept him- baby or not, he was still the same guy he'd always been. But there had been many times in Lucas' life where having a baby knocked him two steps back. It started off in the home, his father was delighted when Cesca left. And the list went on, but Lucas never dwelled on these things. He'd figure the people he needed wouldn't care if he had a baby. And this was why Brooke's reaction was so important.

Brooke turned away, so he couldn't see her face, couldn't see what she was thinking. When she turned round she had a look of pure excitement on her face, and for a moment Lucas thought Brooke had gone completely mad.

"Oh my god! This must be a sign! I always always always wanted to be like a step-mom, you don't mind me calling me that do you? Seen as we're not married and all? No, you don't? Good. I've forever wanted to be a step-mom, and spoil the kiddie so much they'll love me more than they're real mommy-"

"You sure it's not anything at all to do with the pain side of things Brooke?"

"Pain? You can't talk to me about pain! You really have no idea what pain is! Stop laughing at me Mr Scott, am I not being serious enough? 'Cos I can be! As I was saying, pain! I have had my legs waxed I'll have you know, something I bet you have never even tried, so don't you even comment until you have the experience necessary."

"So you're saying Miss Davis, that having your legs waxed is more painful than having a baby? Yeah? Well I have witnessed a birth, and I don't think that that could be possible, so just to prove you wrong, I WILL have my legs waxed, but tomorrow, all the places will be closed by now,"

Brooke smiled an evil smile, and his legs turned to jelly, he knew this wasn't good news. He was planning to go home and find some way to numb his legs for the next day, if it hurt as much as she said it did, but judging by her face, that wouldn't be possible.

"FYI, you don't know what that is? You have a lot to learn my boy, I'll start again. For your information, they're called salons, and they don't approve of being called 'places', don't raise your eyebrows, by the time Jamie-Lynn is done, you will have the utmost respect for salons all over the country. See, my salon is open 24 hours, for all emergency's, so let's get going, unless you're chicken…"

How hard could it be, thought Lucas, it was only the hairs on your legs being ripped out of your skin. Pleasant. But really, how hard could it be?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Very, it seemed. Having the hairs ripped from your legs turned out to be very painful indeed. And all Brooke could do was laugh… whisper things in his ear and laugh.

"So lUke, ready to admit you're wrong?"

"Ye-ouch!"

"I guess I'll have to take that as a yes, so just to make it clear, which is more painful, being kicked in the balls, having a baby, or having you're legs waxed?"

"Ha-ouch! Having… holy shit...your …legs…waxed!"

"Then my case is proven, Jamie-Lynn, I think we're done here,"

"Aaaaarrrggghhh!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Hehe pain for Lucas, next chap Nathan's reaction, good or bad?**


	7. Fear, Shock and Resentment 2

**Yeah by the way, I don't think that having ur legs waxed is that bad either. But I know a few guys we tested it on and they disagree!((about the kicked in the balls part, not the baby bit.))**

**So this bit was supposed to be at the end of the last chapter, hence the name of the chapter, but I forgot to write it (I had it written in a book and got kinda confused. And it isn't long. AT ALL.**

**SO it's here now, kind of like a chapter, but not really, so hopefully I'll be able to post another chapter tonight as well.**

**XXXXXXXX**

Chapter 7- Fear, Shock and Resentment 2

Thirty minutes later, he was stood in exactly the same position. His feet stayed in the same place, and he didn't know whether he'd be able to move them ever again. His eyes hadn't moved either, except to blink every once in a while, and even that didn't happen often.

His gaze stared straight at the gate where she had made her exit, where she had turned around, when she had lifted his spirits so high, and then suddenly dashed them again. In that split second he really had thought she was going to rush back into his arms, and they'd hug and make up, laughing about it the next day, or even later that night.

That was nothing near the truth however. Her eyes he had stared into for so long with so much love had looked at him with a mixture of fear, shock and resentment.

The shock and fear he could handle, it was only their fist date and he'd dropped quite a bombshell, and he knew about the Jonathan guy who had broken her heart.

But the resentment- where had that come from?


	8. The day the letter came

**Sorry I confuse people with the last short bit, it needed to be written really but I didn't want it included in this chapter, sorry.**

**This is longer, I don't know if you'll like it, but here is the introduction of another character, who you may not like.**

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Chapter 7- The day the letter came

He couldn't believe it. She'd proved him wrong, she'd proved to him not all girls were the same. Every other girl he'd told had thrown it straight back in his face with statements like 'oh…okay…I'll call you' or 'can you really imagine me changing nappies?' and often the 'you're hot, but you have way too much baggage'.

And so that had been the end of each of those relationships. Not that they'd actually been relationships as such. After Cesca, he hadn't really wanted anybody, and certainly hadn't wanted to fall in love.

But then along came a girl named Brooke Davis. And his world had been turned upside down. He didn't want anything serious with her, did he? It was just a bit of fun, right? All these questions were charging round his head, and the answer was that he really wasn't sure. When he was at work, her face would just pop into his head- those green eyes which made him feel as though he was the only man in the world, the way her hair cascaded down her back, and the lips that he had kissed.

He walked out the door to get the mail, still thinking of Brooke and everything to do with her, all the conversations they had had, they way she looked at him…when a man walked straight past him and headed for the door.

"Hey man, you can't just walk straight past me straight into my house ya know, it's kinda against the law!"

"I can bloody come into my own house when I please, it's a joint property, and just 'cos you're the older brother, don't think you can boss me around."

"Nate! WOah, you don't look your best, I didn't realise it was you."

"Yeah, and that makes me feel a whole lot better," Nathan shoved his way past his brother into the house they had both shared for the last 5 years. He stormed up the stairs, and Lucas could hear the shower being turned on. He then realised that Nathan must have been out all night, by the state of his clothes, hair and his bloodshot eyes. And not staying out all night in a good way, as in with Haley, but in a not so good way. Luke knew, he's experienced a lot of them. And he also knew that when he had been out all night, he definitely didn't want someone to come and pry in his business when all he wanted to do was sleep and sulk.

Luke picked up the mail and headed back to the kitchen, his mind now full of Nathan. There were bills, wrong addresses and work letters which were all thrown to one side. Which left just the one letter. Addressed to a Mr L. Scott, in handwriting he had been waiting to see in over six months, yet he was dreading this letter more than anything at this moment in time. He carefully slid it open, wondering what the hell she could want. She'd walked right out of his life before the Summer, taking the one thing that was precious to him, and she'd waited until now to pick up a pen and get in touch.

**Dear Luke, **

**You don't know how sorry I am. Things have been awful, trying to find a place for me and Billy to stay. I found this guy, but he's being really abusive to me, and I think he may start on Billy soon, he's been threatening it for long enough. I think I may have a way to get out, some of the neighbours are going to help me, but I have nowhere to go. I didn't want it to come to this, but it's the only way I know Billy will be safe. We'll be at yours on the 15th, and you know you can turn as away if you have to.**

**Love as always**

**Cesca xxx**

The letter fell to the floor, as if in slow motion. The colour drained from his face as he collapsed onto the sofa. Of all the things he thought would happen today, that was something that hadn't even crossed his mind for a second. Sure, he'd thought of Danny, but in the way as if he thought he may never see his son again. And Cesca knew just to get round him. She knew that as soon as Lucas set eyes on his son, he would never turn them away, so she hadn't even bothered to ask if she could stay, she knew she didn't have to. She probably thought that as soon as he let her back into his house, it was a hop, skip, and a jump away from being back in his bed again. Well at least he was one up on her there. She probably didn't think that he'd have been able to move on after she'd left him high and dry. But when she arrived, there would be only one girl allowed in his bed, and it wasn't Cesca. He chuckled, Cesca sure didn't realise what she'd be up against when she returned. The feisty Italian would now be up against the gorgeous fiery Brooke. Cesca had always stunned him, her olive skin and petite frame, with long loose curls floating down her back. And then those eyes, chocolaty and almond shaped, he lost himself in them and she could win him over in a second by just fixing her gaze on him. But he'd now found someone new, someone who he could tell wouldn't just up and leave him for the latest tough guy who came along.

What Cesca knew, and Lucas certainly was never going to tell her, was that the days and weeks following her departure were the darkest he'd ever encountered. She cast a spell on every man she walked past, and he'd fallen hard, landing at her feet. Saying all this, she was a doting mom to Billy, he couldn't fault her for that, but she got selfish all too easily and would almost forget about the little boy.

When she'd first told him she was pregnant, he'd been overjoyed. She'd been his first love, and they'd been together for 5 years, after they'd met in England, where she'd been holidaying with her parents. They were strict Catholics, and so when they found out Cesca was expecting, they'd almost murdered her right thee on the spot- a bastard child was the last thing they wanted. Luckily, Lucas' parents, or parent, Dan hadn't wanted anything to do with Billy, until of course he'd set eyes on him, so Karen managed to persuade Cesca's parents to give the baby idea a go, though this was all forgotten when the baby arrived, and it was love at first sight.

Lucas looked over to the clock and realised it had been ½ an hour since he'd opened the letter. She was taking over his thoughts, and she hadn't yet walked through the door. That would happen tomorrow.

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"Yeah, so I need you here in 5," he asked, or rather told her in a steely voice, daring her to say no. Though he knew she loved to tease him, so it wouldn't be easy.

"Well Natey see, I dunno, I usually do nights, I don't normally go to work during the day, I don't like to pressure my clients in seeing my gorgeous body and freezing up…"

"Stop messing me around Cady. You know both you and me need this, you never get anyone good, only old guys, so get round here pretty damn fast, or you're not getting paid, got it?"

"Okay, okay, I guess it's anything for you, my Natey."

"Yeah, whatever, and today had better be good, I sure need it," He hung up the phone. It was so easy, every time he needed someone, he had the girl of his choice on the line. Today it was Cady, a skinny blonde with too much fake tan, but she did whatever he wanted, so he wasn't bothered.

He'd once found his brother in bed with some random whore, and after that, whenever he needed some tlc, someone would be around. He'd stopped noticing whenever girls came out of his brothers room, it was happening so often, but recently, in the last 3 weeks or so, he hadn't seen a single one. Come to think of it Lucas seemed a lot happier and chattier as well. When it had happened, Nathan was just glad his brother wasn't brooding and sulking all of the time, but he realised it must be all to do with that Brooke Davis, giving him a good time. Nathan had thought Brooke was a nice girl at first, they were alike, loud and confident, but if she was friends with Haley, well Nathan couldn't tell what she was really like.

Ever since he'd seen the look in Haley's eyes, he couldn't get them out of his head. When he'd gone for a shower, he'd thought he'd be able to wash her out of his head, but still, he hadn't figured out how she had come to resent him. He'd bared his soul to her, told her how he felt, and that was the thanks he got. Girls always wanted him to tell them how he felt, so why was this girl any different? And oh god, now he was even sounding like a girl to himself. He needed to get over her, if she could completely blank him from her mind, and change in a second, then that was exactly what he would do.

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Brooke was probably the only happy person out of the four of them, not that she knew it of course. She'd heard Haley come in very late the night before, but had just put it down to being with Nathan all night.

She realised this wasn't the case when Haley walked out of her bedroom. Haley's eyes were all red and puffy, a definite indication of crying, which was something that Haley hardly ever did. The only time that Brooke had ever seen Haley cry was when she'd found out about Jonathan, and that had been just a single tear trickling down her cheek. Haley was a strong person, and Brooke really admired her for that. Brooke cried all of the time, as people said, she was a very emotional person, and cried at anything from old reruns of the O.C, to seeing Armageddon and all her favourite Disney classics. She wasn't really bothered about crying all the time, it was just her way of showing her feelings.

"Oh my god, Haaaley, you look terrible, what's wrong?"

"Yeah, Brooke, if that was supposed to make me feel any better, it really didn't."

"Okay, I'm sorry, but really, you never cry! What's wrong? Did something happen with Nathan? If he did something to hurt you, well I'm going to kick his ass-"

"No, look Brooke, stop it, it wasn't something he did to me, I did something awful to him."

"Come on Haley, I'm sure it can't be that bad…"

"Listen to this first and then make your verdict. So we were having a great time on our date, and we'd gone to the park, where it was really pretty. Naturally we started making out, and then, and then…"

"Come on Haley, it'll do you good to let it all out."

"He said he loved me!"

"Is that all? That's not that bad! He either said it to make you feel good about yourself, which is good, or maybe he means it, which is also amazing! Honest, you have absolutely nothing to worry about, you don't even have to say it back yet if you don't want to."

"That's not all though, when he said it, I completely froze, I didn't know what to do, and I ran away. When I turned back to face him when I got the gate, he was just stood there, Brooke, he hadn't even moved!" Brooke felt so sorry for Haley at that moment. She knew Haley hadn't dated since Jonathan, not properly in any case, and hearing those words would have made her, Brooke Davis flip, on a first date, but to say it to Haley wasn't the best idea. Haley's trust had been completely shattered, and if Brooke could read Haley's feelings right, then she was frightened, frightened that if she let herself go again, she would be broken, even worse than the first time.

"Come here Haley, we need a Baley hug right now. Look, what I think you need to do is go round to his house, and speak to him. I know you didn't mean to hurt him, and I bet he hasn't heard properly about the Jonathan situation, so I think you both need to let it go."

"You know Brooke, I think you are right. I'll go round, we'll talk, and I'll ask him to forgive me."

"That's it Haley, that's what you need to do. But don't go all jellyfish on him."

"Word definition please Brooke?"

"Dear god! Jellyfish in that context means make sure you show a little backbone, don't break down and do all he says, kay?"

"I got it Brooke."

Haley knew that there was no way that she could tell Brooke about the events that unfolded after she had left the park the night before.

Brooke just wouldn't understand.

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DINDDONGDINGDONG.

Lucas still hadn't moved. He couldn't decide what he was going to do the next day. He knew that he'd never be able to turn Billy away, but could he convince Cesca to go stay in a hotel or something? He knew she'd be too much trouble hanging round the house.

He dragged himself up off the sofa and headed to get the door. He heard shuffling upstairs, and wondered who the person at the door could be. He was hoping it would be Haley, here to sort out that Nathan was in. And maybe she could tell him what was going on. HE sure wasn't going to get it out of his brother.

When he opened the door, it was someone he hope that he'd never have to see again. He'd got all that out of his system. He knew he shouldn't have done it, he kind of got addicted after Cesca left, and he needed to get what he wanted from someone who wouldn't ask questions. After he'd stopped calling them, for a week they called him, seeming to almost beg him to get them to come over, so they'd get paid, and also get it from someone who wasn't over 60. They'd stopped calling recently, and he'd finally been free, but none of them had turned up at his door, not until now.

"Uh, Katie I didn't call you, so please get out."

"Lukey, number 1 it's Cady, number 2 I'm not in so how can I get out, and number 3 I'm not here for you."

"Well what the hell are you doing here then? I Have a girlfriend, and my brother has a girlfriend, so we won't be needing your services." He went to shut the door, but she got her foot in the way.

"Well Natey's girlfriend mustn't be keeping him satisfied, because he wants me."

"Just get-"

"Lucas, let her in." Lucas swivelled hi head around, Nathan was standing at the top of the stairs, his bloodshot eyes visible, and he looked just as awful apart from he was wearing clean clothes.

"Uh Nathan, have you forgotten about Haley, your girlfriend?"

"I don't think that's the case, but you should ask her that, not me. Now stay out of my life, when you had all these whores coming round every hour of the day, I just stayued out of it, I respected your privacy, so can you please return the favour. Come on Cady, my room."

Lucas couldn't believe it, when he had stopped, his little brother had started, and what had happened between him and Haley? God, this day was probably one of the worst of his life, and if he, Nathan and Haley were terrible, then how was Brooke?

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Hey, Luke, I really need to see Nathan."

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**Hehe you can probably guess who that it, but ohoh!**

**Please review, hope you liked it.**


	9. Playing games

**I'm so glad you all like my story now, and I guess it's just hotting up! Hopefully I don't disappoint! Please review if you like it, or even ifnot.**

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Chapter 9- Playing games.

"So are you ready then Natey? I'm kinda getting restless, after your brother trying to spoil all of this for us."

"There isn't anything to actually spoil, we just do this and then we leave, and if you didn't do this, I'd find somebody else. Now just hurry up." It was then that they both heard the door go, but Nathan chose to ignore it. If it was somebody important, then Lucas knew what he was doing, he'd distract them or whatever. So Nathan started to unbutton his trousers, and he could see the whore in front of him getting excited, as her eyes danced all over his body.

She leaned in to kiss him, her rough lips trying to part his, but he pulled away before she could actually do anything, or do any damage. It was his rule, if he'd invited them over, then there would be no kissing, it was too personal. After all, this was her job, and he just needed a fix. It was a necessity. It didn't mean anything, soon it would be over, he'd be feeling better, and if he didn't want, he'd never have to see her again.

He had to remember, whatever happened, this didn't mean anythng. The first time he had done this, he was all over the girl, Sara her name was though he ouldn't be sure. After she left, he began to have withdrawal symptoms, and he kept calling her, begging her to come back. Then he learned that she'd been screwing some old dude, who gave twice the money he gave, and though she told him he wouldn't be able to live without her and the pleasures she gave him, he moved on.

He knew how to handle it now, that's why he never chose the same girl twice in a row. He might get addicted, and if he did, he wasn't sure what he would do.

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Brooke headed into Luna's, the boutique where she worked. She loved her job, her boss was amazing, and she often got new clothes for a fraction of the price. She even got to help with some of the design, as Luna's designed their own clothes, and then made them. She had no idea why Luna wanted her to go into the shop that day, they always had assistants working on a Saturday, who didn't really know what they were doing, but Brooke figure that if there were enough of them, they couldn't really go wrong, could they?

She walked through the door, which had pink curtains on the inside, a little touch that she had made. In reality, Luna hated pink, but Brooke had insisted that the colour needed to be included, and eventually Luna started to include the pink in her designs, though she never tired of complaining to Brooke about having to include it.

Then Brooke stopped. The pink curtains had gone. She'd taken it for granted that they'd be there, as they had been for the last 18 months. But they'd gone. There wasn't even a scrap of material in place of it, which made the door feel unwelcoming. Brooke decided that she would have to have a few words with Luna once she was inside.

But when she got in, there weren't only a few minor surprises in store for her, it was as if the shop had been taken over by aliens. It was deathly quiet, and they had not one customer in there, something Luna hated, and if they didn't have a customer in the shop, she'd go out onto the street, find a good-looking girl, and charm her with the idea of a free pair of earrings, and so when more people walked past the shop, they'd see the person, and think the shop would be good. It was simple really, and Luna had it down to atee.

The 2 assistants were lined up behind the counter, and they kept making looks at the mannakin in the corner, which was sporting a hideous grey shawl looking like it had been used for a dog blanket the second before it had been used for the model. She tried to catch the eye of one of the assistants, butneither of them were looking at her.

"FREAKING HELL, WHAT HAVE WE GOT THERE? A MOVING MANNAKIN?" Brooke was shocked, and had let out an almighty screech. The model had just moved sideways, and for a second she'd thought they had a robotic model that was the reason for all of the changes. It turned out to be what was behind the mannakin that was the cause of the change.

"Oh why HELLO darling,YOU must be Brookie, Luna has told me ALL about you, and your credits she's given you REALLY are MARVELOUS, honestly, i don't know WHY you stayed here in this DUMP, you could have OBVIOUSLY have been somewhere TOALLY more worthwhile than HERE!" Oh god, it was Brooke's worst nightmare. It was one of those women who REALLY couldn't stop SPEAKING like THIS as EVERY word needed to be made more IMPORTANT than YOU.

So where was Luna? And who was this devil that had replaced her? Okay, so Brooke had to admit, she was pretty, gorgeous in fact, with her stupid foreign accent, and just from seeing that much of her, Brooke hated every little thing about her.

"It really is GREAT to see you, and though you OBVIUOSLY know who i am, i have NO idea who the HELL you are!" Brooke could see the assistants in the background giggling, they'd picked up on Brooke's teasing, but it didn't seem as though the stranger had noticed at all, she just carried on in her own little world.

"WELL darling, i'm FRANCESCA, and i'm going to be your NEW boss!-"

Wait, raincheck.

"What?Erm, so at the moment i'm completely happy with my job, as i am half boss, and I'm pretty sure that Luna, the main half boss is happy as well." Brooke knew that none of what she had just said made sense, but she was in one of her places, where she had no idea of what the world was doing around her, and she also had no idea what she was doing herself.

"Oh... I'm SO sorry, hasn't Luna told you? I was sure that she would have told you, you know with you being half boss and all," Francesca gave a huge dazzling smile, sh certainly knew how to put you down, without being able to be proven guilty, because she hadn't 'meant' to say anything offensive, " Luna is in hospital, she's broken both her arms and one of her legs whilst snowboarding, oh didn't you know she was snowboarding this week? and so she's taking a lot of time off, and she's not even sure if she's ever going toc ome back, she knows all will be well under me, and she can just be the owner in the background, and I'll be the frontrunner in all of this."

Brooke was now fuming, she couldn't believe this woman had the audacity to come and boss her around, and she was sure that there must have been some sort of mistake- Luna would have left her in charge if anyone, not somebody who had no idea of the business that she was joining, and by the looks of things couldn't have taken care of any business at all, anywhere. But Brooke decided to keep her head up, and she started to form the plan of how she could get back in charge and stop the business running into a dire state. She put on her best smile, on to rival even Francesca and started moving things around.

"Oh I' m SORRY, but i don't think you should be MOVING all my things around," Francesca started to intervene but Brooke fended her off.

"I'm trying to find a bloody phone around here, i'm sure you have the number of Luna's ward, i just need to check a few things out with her." Francesca obligingly gave her her mobile, and Brooke headed outside to make the call. The more she thought about it, Brooke didn't see anything right with the situation at all. Why would the lovable Luna leave a horrible frog like Francesca in charge of Luna's, when she could have left everything to the bubbly Brooke. Brooke got sidetracked for a second, she knew Haley would be proud of her. See, Brooke had never listened in English, and now Haley was giving Brooke lessons on how to make her writing and speaking more ineresting, and she'd just given a perfect example of using similes. Or was it metaphors? She couldn't quite remember. The only thing she knew was that it meant putting the same letter at the start of the words, and it made it sound good.

Brooke remembered what she was doing, and it had taken herso long, that the number she had written in had now been erased, so she had to do it all again. This time she had no interruptions and she got through to the ward.

"Hello? Is that Luna?"

"Yeah, sure it is honey. Is that my favourite girl Brooke?"

"Yeah, is sure is, i was just wondering, well it's quite a long wonder but anyway, i might as well just start- who is this girl Francesca?SHe thinks she's oh so smart, but really, she has NO idea of what to do around here, and she'd taken down the pink curtains that i know you now love, becasue you haven't complained about them in the longest time. And what is it with her always stressing her words? It REALLY is getting SO annoying you know, and don't laugh! And one more thing, she said you broke both your arms and your legs when snowboarding, but you don't snowboard!" Luna laughed, and Brooke pouted.

"Look Brooke, Fancesca is prefectly qualified for the job, and she had the best references frm everywhere around. And i told her to make herslef welcome, so maybe she just doesn't like the pink curtains. And finally, the whole point is that i don't snowboard, I was tryin it out at the local sports place, and it seems I have broken almost every bone in my body." Brooke hmmfd. It seemed that this Francesca character could not be squished, and there was no controversy around.

"Well why didn't you just tell me to get on with it? I've looked after the shop before by myself, and there hasn't been a frie or anything!"

"I know that Brooke, but I really needed someone else to help. And also, if you were boss, you wouldn't be telling me all that's going on 'cos it would be all your fault, and i still need my spy. And of course , for the most important part, if i amke you boss, you'll go onto bigger and better things, and I don't want that!" Brooke sighed, she didn't know how, but Luna always seemed to get her own way,and she made you feel good about it in the process.

"Alright, alright, but it doesn't mean i have to like her does it?" Luna giggled, Brooke always was a character.

"Whatever Brooke, see you soon!" And she hung up the phone.

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"Ugh, so I don't think he's really ready for visitors at the moment..."

"Yeah? Well that's my fault, and so i really need to sort it out." Lucas was in a very awkward situation, he couldn't tell Haley why Nate couldn't see Nate, yet he didn't know how he could stop her entering the house, as the small woman looked very determined.

"Well, you can't see him, see, he's out, yeah," Haley narrowed her eyes, he was contradicting himself.

"You just siad he wasn't ready for visitors...?"

"Yeah, 'cos see, he's out, so he's obvioulsy not ready for visitors,"

Just at that moment, they heard a loud cry of 'that's it!' from upstairs, fuelling Haley's desire to get upstairs.

"Well Luke, he doesn't seem to be out, and he also seems quite happy, so, if you would just let me past..."

"You can't! He's uh, playing playstation..."

"And is that suppposed to stop me? A playstation game?"

"Yeah, well all guys hate being interrupted from their game, and he will get angry,"

"Well i think he's probably angry with me already, so will you please just let...me...past!" She pushed her way through his arms and up the stairs. There was no way he'd be able to protect Nathan. All she needed to do was to talk to him, and say sorry, and then maybe everything would be back to normal.

She opened the doors through the house, and found no-one in the ifrst threee, but as she went towards the fourth door, she could hear movement.

She opened the door, and it was there that her whole world came crashing down on top of her.


	10. Gone

It's been ages, but my computer has been like really messing up, so….

I hope you like this chapter, I had it all sorted, but I kind of can't remember it, so this could go anywhere.

Hope you're all still reading sorry it's soo long

Xxx

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Chapter 10-

Tears blinded her eyes, until she couldn't see a thing. She didn't even know if he'd seen her, he was so caught up with that…that girl he was with. And so soon after her, she couldn't believe he could actually move on. Yeah, maybe she said she didn't love him, but she now realised that she did, though he'd obviously had a change of heart. No-one could get over somebody that quick. It was impossible.

"N…Na...Nathan?" She breathed, tears choking her voice.

"W...what? Haley, what the hell are you doing here?" She couldn't believe him, she'd come to say she was sorry, just to find him like that, and he was asking why she was there, as if she had interrupted something she shouldn't have walked in on. Last time she'd checked he was still her boyfriend; they'd never actually said it was over, had they?

She had two pairs of eyes on her now, she could see that much. But he wasn't trying to get off her, just laying there. So she did the only thing it seemed she was able to do these days.

Run.

She barged straight past Lucas, who seemed to be giving her a half-hearted apology, but he had no idea what it was like to be in her shoes. And if she was him, and Brooke had been the person upstairs, then she'd have worked a lot harder to keep him from going up there.

Opening the door, she crashed straight into the bright sunlight of the morning, but she could think of nothing else as she scrambled around in her purse.

She quickly dialled the numbers, knowing them all too well.

"Hey, you still here? Well, wait up, I'm coming."

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A couple of hours later Francesca had gone to see somebody, so Brooke was left in peace for the first time it seemed in ages. That damned girl's voice was the worst part, how could you be so enthusiastic about everything like that?

After rearranging everything back to how it was before the evil Frankenstein had arrived… haha, she'd have to remember that, it was quite clever really… Brooke sat on the huge pink soft chair that she often used just to think.

Ooh, Brooke wondered, how was Haley doing? Judging by past experience, Haley was very persuasive, though she didn't know Nathan very well yet. Yeah, he was hot, and a little sulky, but Haley was so sweet and he'd never do anything to hurt her, would he?

Brooke knew what would be coming to Nathan, if he even dared play with the precious thing that was her best friend's heart.

But just to be sure, Brooke dialled the numbers that she had been pressing so often over the past couple of weeks, to hear the voice that she had gotten so used to.

After only around two rings, the guy she had been waiting to hear answered.

"Hello? Lucas Scott here,"

"Hey sweetie, it's me, how ya doing?"

"Well, not so good really, have you not heard about what just happened, I thought you'd know, didn't Haley call you as soon as she got out of the house?" Brooke stopped and thought for a minute. No, there had definitely been no missed calls on her phone before she had rung Luke, and why would there have been?

"Erm no… why would she have called me?" Lucas took a deep breath on his end of the line, who could Haley have been talking to when she said 'wait up, I'm coming'? He wasn't trying to offend her, but the only friend he had ever seen her with was Brooke, they seemed to be stuck together at the hip.

"Look Brooke, did Haley tell you what happened last night on their date? Because I don't exactly know, Nathan wasn't exactly talkative when he came home, and then when he went upstairs with that girl, well it wasn't really the best time to ask. But I'm guessing from your puzzled voice that you don't know any more than me-"

"Well, I know a bit. Right well I'll start from the beginning. So did I tell you about Haley and that creep Jonathan? Well, he told her he loved her just two days before her birthday, and we found him, which broke her heart, especially as she thought his words were true. Ever since she hasn't really dated. Yeah, I tried to get her with a couple of guys, but then she'd either hate them because they had something in common with Jonathan, or they were different to him in some way. It was a lose-lose situation. And Haley just couldn't get out of the rut. So, when we met you, I thought yahey, and now it's all turned out like this. . . . . Oh yeah, I forgot a little teeny weeny bit that is sooo not really important, but uh, Nathan said that he loved Haley last night and then she ran away-"

"He did what? Nathan NEVER tells a girl she loves him. I should know, I've had thousands of girls begging me to ask him whether he's going to say those three magic words. And now Haley rejected him. Woah, he must be messed up…"

"Maybe he is, but I still don't know what is happening, how's he messed up? What's happening?"

"Okay, so Haley turned up here asking to see Nathan, and at the time I wondered what was going on, see Nathan had a girl up in his room and they weren't exactly studying if you know what I mean. He'd been in a foul mood when he got back in the morning, so much so that I didn't even recognise him. My own brother. So…. When Haley came round I tried to put her off, but I guess she's either really persuasive or I didn't try hard enough. She headed upstairs and the next thing I knew she'd run down the stairs and out of the door. That was just now. When she got out I followed her and looked out of the window. She pulled out her cell and said to someone "Wait up I'm coming". So I thought it was you. But obviously not."

There was silence, as Brooke tried to digest all the information that she had been given.

KNOCK KNOCK.

"Oh crap, sorry Brooke just let me get the door."

When Luke opened the door, he got the shock of his life. Cesca was stood in front of him. Yeah, he'd expected her, but not right now and not whilst Brooke was on the phone.

"Oh my god Luke! You're looking so good!" Luke's thoughts were swimming around and around. He couldn't think straight and he didn't know what to do.

"Luke? Luke? Hello? I'm still on the phone you know? And is there a girl in there with you? 'Cos I'm sorry but she sounds oh so familiar. And I really don't want her to be familiar."

"Er what? Hold on Cesca. I'm on the phone. Come in."

"Luke. Did you say Cesca?"

"Er yeah. Why?" Brooke couldn't believe it. This could not be a coincidence. Her boss was getting off with her boyfriend. The most annoying woman on the planet. It was funny, she wasn't getting upset about it. Maybe it was because she couldn't believe it was true. She knew Lucas wouldn't do that. Would he….?

"Luke. Who's Cesca?"

There was silence. He knew he had to tell her, but how would she take it?" Just then, he was interrupted.

"Luke honey, what do you want to do now?" She said it in a seductive tone that made Luke, and Brooke almost sick. Brooke now decided the time was right for her to get hysterical.

"Luke? Luke? Please tell me you're not sleeping with her? Please…."

"Brooke, I'd never do that to you, you know I wouldn't." Brooke's heart rate quickly returned to normal.

"Who's Brooke?" Luke snapped. Even though, and this was the first time he'd noticed, Cesca did look gorgeous, he could not just cut Brooke out.

Cesca go back to the kitchen, make some tea, whatever, you know where everything is. Brooke? Okay, so I don't know if you'll find this worse than what you already thought, but Cesca's the daughter of my son. Danny."

"Oh. Right. Well, if nothing's going on then I believe you. But really and honestly, what are we going to do about Haley? She's gone awol. She could be dead for all we know! Oh my god, Haley's dead what am I gonna do!"

Lucas sighed, there may be something up with Haley, but he highly doubted that she was dead.

"Brooke, I know you're worried but I'm sure Haley is fine. We just need to know where to look for her. I'm sure, eventually Nathan will come to his senses and they'll get back together." Did he believe it? Not really, but he'd do anything to get rid of the high pitched shriek in Brooke's voice.

"Yeah, you're right. But I know what I need to do to find her. It may be evil but I have to do it."

"As long as you're not breaking the law, then I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Is reading someone's diary breaking the law?"

XXXXXXXXX

After Lucas got off the phone with Brooke, he had to brave it with Cesca again. Cesca was Brooke's new boss? Now that was weird. Cesca said she had no money? Was she trying to keep the job a secret from him? If she was, then he sure wasn't going to tell her he knew. He'd wait. As Cesca leaned in towards him to do something he dreaded, he quickly leaned out of the way, and to make things easier for him, Nathan walked in. He blinked, still in a bad mood, and behind him followed a bedraggled girl who he proceeded to chuck out and then stalk back inside.

"Woah is she really there?" Nathan asked Luke, trying to act cheerful in front of the newcomer, but he wasn;t fooling anyone. '

"Uhuh I'm here sweetie, here to get what's mine back." There was an uncomfortable silence. Luke decided to break it. And then wished he hadn't.

"So Nate, what happened upstairs?"

Nathan smashed a glass against the wall, and then stormed out.

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SO next chapter, what really happened to Haley on that night. And who's she with? I bet you can all guess! HEhe


	11. Dear Diary

Yeah, so it has been a long time…. But I'm back.

And I've also updated my other story, Singing her last song. And don't be put off by whether you think the story is Brathan or Brucas, because I haven't decided yet, and you could be the person to persuade me on way or the other…. But if you want to do that you'll have to read and review!

So back to this story, this chapter is going to be Haley's diary.

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2/12/05

Dear Diary,

We've just arrived at the cabin thingy that Brooke rented for us. I guess it's quite nice, in any case it has a tv, something Brooke was overjoyed to see. It has a proper bathroom as well, so I guess I'll be alright. Tomorrow we're going shopping for food and stuff, and Brooke has told me we're going to get a scary movie.

And Brooke knows oh so well how I don't like scary movies. Our argument went something like this

_Me: Brooke, you know I hate those kinds of movie, and you're making me watch it when we're in the middle of nowhere in a wooden cabin!_

_Brooke: Sweetie, if you're worried that you won't be able to relate to the movie as it's set in some big city somewhere, I'll get one about a small wooden cabin in the middle of the woods. That'll do nicely don't you think?_

_Me: No, that's not what I mean Brooke and you know it._

_Brooke: (Pulling her mp3 headphones out of her ears which I KNOW are not switched on) Sorry baby, I can't hear you, what did you say?_

_Me: (steam now coming out of my ears) I don't want to watch a horror movie._

_Brooke: IT'S SNOWING!_

And that was the end of it. Brooke raced outside to see the snow and then proceeded to bounce to her car and go get the shopping. I was on cleaning duty. Not that Brooke ever does it.

3/12/05

Brooke managed to get the film yesterday, but she wanted to wait til today to watch it for some reason. So for the whole of today it has been sat on the top of the tv, staring at me and laughing evilly every time I walk past it. God I hope that we can finish this film quick

Wow. So there had kind of been a change of events around here. Me and Brooke were watching the film; okay, she was watching and I was hiding behind a pillow, when these two figures appeared at the door.

It was actually the scariest moment of my life. But it turned out that the two of them are total hotties (oh god, that sentence makes me sound like Brooke!).

So the first guy who came in was sort of the sulky type, the captain of the basketball team like the one we have back at home. I could see Brooke's eyes widen when she got a glance of him, and I could also see her mentally undress him. He made no secret of the fact that he was doing the exact same thing to her.

The second guy who entered was also gorgeous, and more my type. I could imagine the rippling muscles under his coat, but I could also tell just from looking at him that he liked books, just like me. He gave me a sweet smile, and I could see that turn into a smirk as soon as he saw Brooke and her arguing.

It turned out it was his birthday. SO, very politely I said "Happy Birthday". Only to be told off by Brooke.

Then there was the deal of whether they could stay with us. It turned out that Luke made Brooke scream, something that Brooke was very very annoyed about – she prides herself of being afraid of nothing. But when she passed over to me to make the decision, I didn't know what to do.

If I stood up for Brooke, she'd be very happy yet the boys would leave.

If I stood up for Luke, she'd hate me forever yet I'd be able to get to know Luke and Nathan.

If I said I hadn't heard anything as my pillows were covering my ears and eyes, then it would be cheating and we'd have got disqualified anyway aka mad Brookie.

SO I stood up for Luke.

I went to bed after Brooke, as she'd stormed off. She was still bitter, and went to sleep straight away, yet I just couldn't stop thinking about Luke. He was perfect. He'd had his arm round me when we were watching the film and it was just perfect.

Everything seemed to be going right after… Jonathan.

A bit later I heard Brooke head out to eh bathroom. She tried not to make a noise but then fell over all the clothes he left on the floor. She's gone to the bathroom right now and that's why I'm catching up writing this.

Wait a minute… I can hear voices. Brooke and … Luke. The bathroom is right next door so I can hear everything they're saying. Oh no. No. I can't believe what I'm hearing. Listen to this.

_Brooke: How did you know? I mean… no I wasn't… I don't cheat!_

_Luke: In answer to your first question, we obviously have a lot more in common than you first thought, and anyway, everyone agreed and voted against you._

_Brooke: Just 'cos you're gorgeous, Mister, does NOT mean you can worm your way around every girl that you meet, especially not me!"_

Oh no, Brooke has just told him he's gorgeous. I've never ever known a guy to be able to resist Brooke. Is she really going to take away the only guy she'd liked in ages?

_Luke: You think I'm gorgeous Miss Brooke?_

And here it went. Brooke has never meant to hurt me, but she doesn't know the countless times I've liked a guy and he turns out to like her more than me.

_Brooke: NO! I mean… well yeah… I DIN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT!_

_Luke: Don't worry about it, Brooke, I think you're gorgeous too._

Oh god. Silence. They're kissing. I can tell. It's like I can just feel it. My heart, starting to tear at the seams which have only just managed to heal.

_Brooke: I can't believe I just did that… to Haley… after everything she said… after everything she's been through… I'm such a bitch… how could I do that? The first person she finds… after so long… and I do this. Oh god. Please Lucas, swear to me, you will never tell ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE, about what just happened, ok?_

_Luke: Right, ok, I swear to you. But Brooke, didn't you feel what I just felt?_

_Brooke: What? I didn't feel ANYTHING. In fact, I've already forgotten about it. Just don't ever tell. Anyone._

When Brooke comes back into the room, I pretend to be asleep.

But in fact, I can't stop the tears streaming down my face.

14/12/05

I've hardly forgotten what Brooke did to me. I know she didn't mean it, but I told her I liked him, and she let her flirting go too far. And then the next day, she came back in fuming, and then Luke just 5 minutes later. They were both covered in snow, and I don't know, I could just tell that something had happened between the two of them.

There was a plus side to the weekend though. Brooke had left early in the morning, which was good as I couldn't face talking to her. Nathan came in with a cup of hot chocolate, saw my puffy eyes and immediately asked what was wrong. I don't know why, but I told him everything. Everything I felt about Lucas. And he held me while I cried.

And then told me to get up off the bed and help him make some breakfast. IT was the best time I've had with a guy in a long long time. We goofed around acting like little kids and then had a flour and food fight.

He was what helped me get through that weekend, and it really does hurt to know that I'm never going to se him again.

17/12/05

Oh my god! I met him again. No, not Lucas, Nathan!

He saved me from these horrible boys. Granted, he didn't know it was me but he did say that if he'd known then he'd have killed them.

We went back to my house and we just had fun like we did before. Then we played truth or dare.

The dares were about kissing! And ogh, those kisses were the best I have ever felt in my entire life. There seemed to be fireworks all around us and I know it seems clichéd, but it seemed like we were the only two people left in the world.

It was sad to see him go, and he made me completely forget about Lucas.

When I arrived home tonight I found a couple of surprises waiting for me. The first was that the toaster in the corner was a lot more shiny than it had been in the morning.

The second was when I went to have a bath and I found that my bath bubbles had been replaced by some that were much more expensive than I'd had before.

So either Santa's come early or Brooke's been having some accidents again.

19/12/05

Last night was probably the worst night of my entire life. It's so painful and fresh in my mind that I can't write it down.

Basically what happened was that ……….. Nathantoldmehelovedmeandiranaway.

There. That's all I'm going to say about that part. But it hurts me so much because I've realised that I love him too. I love his smile, his piercing blue eyes, the way he calls me Hales, and basically everything about him.

The worst part though was what happened after I ran from the park.

I didn't know where I was, I'd been running and running and running. The park was now far away, but the memory was still burning through my mind. I was just about to call for help (I'd realised I was in the worst and most seedy part of the city) when I ran into someone.

Someone whose arms stopped me from falling backwards. Someone's arms that I recognised as if I had been in them only yesterday, although it had been years.

Jonathan.

Here's what happened:

_Jon: Haley?_

_Me: Uh…uh… yeah._

_Jon: (Hugging me so hard I think I'm going to stop breathing). Oh, it's so good to see you! I've been looking for you for so long, you don't know how hard it was for me when you left me._

_Me: Hard for you? You're the one who slept with that girl on the debate team._

_Jon: (Looking confused) What?_

_Me: ( not wanting any funny business form him) You know what I mean. That girl, Jenna her name was. (I started to cry) You were… fucking her on the table. And Brooke came and attacked you. ON my birthday._

_Jon: Haley, I am sorry but I have no idea what you are talking about. On your birthday I kept ringing you on your cell phone. I couldn't get there; my grandma had just been taken into hospital with a heart attack, from which she died from later that night._

_Me: What?_

_Jon; That's why you left me? Because that slut Brooke Davis told you I'd been screwing some other girl? I' d never do that to you, Haley James. You were and still are my life. That's why I've been looking for you ever since._

_Me: Ever since that night?_

_Jon: Yeah._

I couldn't believe what he was saying. Brooke wouldn't lie to me, would she? She couldn't do that to me, her best friend?

But there was this niggling thought in the back of my brain which reminded me that she'd taken my phone that night, so she could take care of arrangements. And no-one else had seen what Jon had supposedly done.

And ever since, Brooke has been taking the guys out of my hands. I always thought she didn't mean it… but does she?

For the past however many years, has she just been using me to get a house, money, a cleaner?

_Jon: Look Haley, I am so sorry for the pain that Brooke has cause you, and as I was responsible in a way then I am so sorry too. But please, come back to Tree Hill with me, I never hurt you, and I'll protect you for always. Please baby, just come home. Here's my number, if you don't want to tell me now then call me. But I want you to know that now I've found you, I'm going home. I'm leaving at noon tomorrow._

And then he gave me a kiss, one of those kisses that mad me go weak at the knees.

But all I could think about was Nathan, and I how I loved him more. I needed to find him, I needed to find him before ------

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Brooke through down the book. Jonathan, that lying creepy jerk. He'd poisoned poor Haley's mind.

And taken her heart.

But Brooke was going to get it back.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There you go, I hope you enjoyed and noticed all the links I made with other chapter, like the toaster and the bubble bath.

Now all that's left is for you to review, so please do!

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	12. Haley's Angels

_Hey sorry it has been so long but everything has been sooo hectic._

_I want you to know that I have never been to the US and therefore I have no idea where everywhere is (I don't even know where cities are in my own country, never mind another one!), and so I know that you would probably have to take a plane to Tree Hill from New York and I guess that there probably isn't any desert in between._

_BUT, for the purpose of my story, can we please pretend/_

_ENJOY!_

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Chapter 12 – Haley's Angels

"Agent B.P.Davis calling agents L.E…" Brooke stifled a giggle, "Scott and N…Scott. Are you prepared to accept this challenge?"

"Um, I don't know, this is FRANCESCA. Excuse me do I know you?" Brooke could tell Francesca was smiling sweetly on the other end, perfectly aware of who it was,

"You're damn right you do, it's your long suffering employee here." Francesca frowned,

"But Brookie, you've only been working here for one day!"

"Exactly, that is my point. Now where's Luke?"

"Don't worry baby, I'm here, you're just on speaker phone." Brooke gasped,

"Luke! What would have happened if I'd started that conversation with raunchy sex stories of what we could do tonight rather than your impending duties." Luke cringed.

"Now that is something I've always wanted my three year old son to hear." Luke heard a shriek from the other end,

"Oh my god! Is Billy there? Hey little kiddies, my name's Brooke and you're gonna love me so much more than your other mommy!"

"I am still here you know," Francesca's voice rang out loud and clear that she was the one sat with Luke and their son, not Brooke.

"Yeah, unfortunately." Luke could almost hear the steam coming out of Brooke's ears and so decided to ease the tension between the two women. He turned off the speaker phone, much to the relief of Brooke.

"What are you talking about Brooke, impending duties; Agent Scott?" Brooke paused,

"Mmmhmmm, that's you. And the other Agent Scott is Nathan." Luke smiled,

"Yeah I kinda understood that part Brooke, I just don't get what we are going to do."

"Didn't I tell you? Ohh, well we're going to save Haley." Brooke waited for any imput from Luke but when she didn't get any, she carried on getting more and more into it as she went along, "You know, like in Shrek. Nathan's Shrek, only totally more good looking of course and he is going to find Fiona aka Haley. Though we might have to put Haley's hair on Fiona's, I mean I love redheads and all it's just that sometimes in the film when it catches the light, it looks totally fake."

"Brooke, maybe that's 'cos it is fake."

"Huh?"

"You know, Shrek's an animation and everything." Brooke carried on as though she hadn't heard anything Luke had just said,

"So you're going to be the donkey, and we'll have to make up a totally new character for me, I was thinking a sort of Angelina Jolie type cat…"

"Brooke, you talk enough to be the donkey. I'd rather be Puss… In Boots. I know you find Antonio Banderas completely irresistible." Lucas ignored Brooke's exclaims of 'Oh my god! You watched Shrek, that is so totally adorable!' and cut her off,

"Brooke. Much as I like to talk about this, I thought we were supposed to be saving Haley, and seen as we haven't seen her in 24 hours, I'd say this is quite serious."

"Okay, well. Haley found that creep Jonathan in a dark alleyway when she left Nathan at the park and he told her all these lies about me, you know not telling her the truth in all these years and he had a sick grandma or something. It really hurt you know, because in the end she started to believe him. And so now she's gone off to Tree Hill so I had this great idea that we could all go off and find her and bring her home!"

"Who's we?"

"You, me and Nathan. Nathan because he can so totally make her fall in love with him again. He's our secret weapon." Luke had a bad feeling about the trip. He didn't get bad feelings often but when he did, he certainly became more aware. But he had heard the tears catching in the back of Brooke's throat when she talked about Haley being gone, and then her utter delight at the thought of bringing her back home again. And Luke could never bear to keep Brooke away from happiness. So he said those fateful words.

"Okay then."

"You're coming? Oh, this is going to be so excellent, we're gonna be the Fab Four again. 'Cos, you know, we haven't been all together since the cabin, and I hated you then, so it wasn't very happy familyish."

"Okay so when do you want me to pick you up?"

"Thirteen minutes time. And don't you sigh like that! If you hadn't been gabbing for the past 7 minutes about Shrek and god knows what else then you would have had 20 minutes!"

"Right then. You want me to bring Nathan?"

"Uh yeah. But I wouldn't tell him where we're going just yet, it may start a rebellion. Just say we're going to some basketball thingy."

"Right then, I'll see you in 12 minutes." Brooke screamed,

"12 minutes? What? I'm not even ready! Oh my god!" And with that, Brooke rang off and left Lucas laughing at the phone. He stopped laughing abruptly however when he realized his son and ex girlfriend were sat in front of him, waiting for an explanation of what he was doing.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Luke, what was that madgirl trying to make you do?" Luke sighed. He was so selfish. He'd forgotten his own son in trying to make Brooke happy. But there was no way that he'd back out now. After all, Cesca had turned up completely out of the blue on his doorstep. It wasn't his fault if he had plans.

"We're going to Tree Hill."

"No you are not. You are not leaving me… and your son. We have nowhere to go." Luke started to get angry. Yeah, he loved his son more than anything, but he hardly ever saw Billy and so could not be expected to just drop everything. And he most certainly did not love Francesca. Luke had a feeling that this was all about her. Billy wouldn't notice if a guy who had been dragged into his life only the day before left for a couple of days. Though it hurt to think it, Billy probably didn't even realize Luke was his dad.

"Cesca, you cannot stop me going. And before you say anything, you can both stay here seen as Nathan is coming with me as well. Now I'm going to pack some things for the two of us as I have 8 minutes left."

"8 minutes of what?" Luke smiled,

"8 minutes until Brooke will go mental and try to kill me with a spoon."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dude, where is it we're going again?" Nathan was bewildered to say the least. Luke had picked him up on the way home from the store and announced they were going to some basketball thing. Nathan hadn't been sure but, anything to keep his mind off Haley was a good thing. He felt so guilty, yet he also felt angry. He had bared his heart for her yet she tossed it aside as though it meant nothing. He knew that his actions after that were wrong yet he had never been taught to cope with rejection, therefore he didn't know what to do when he experienced it.

"Uh, I'm not really sure, it's a surprise to us from Brooke."

"Well, speaking of Brooke, there she is, and she don't seemed so pleased to see you." Luke took in a deep breath and found the courage to wind down his window.

"Um hey Brooke." Brooke stamped her foot.

"10 minutes! 10 minutes I have been waiting for you two in this freaking cold! You know it is coming up to Christmas don't you?"

"I am so sorry Brooke, I … um …. Uh … I …. Just," Brooke started to giggle,

"Don't worry baby, I just got down this second. See my seven bags are by the door, just waiting for you to go pick them up." Luke obligingly opened the door and trudged up the steps. Nathan laughed,

"Man, she'd got you whipped!" Brooke smiled, but it soon faded,

"Uh sweetie, do you have any other movies to watch other than uh… 'The Grandfather' and -" Nathan sighed,

"It's 'The Godfather' Brooke, one of the three best classic films ever. The other two are…"

"Whatever Nathan, I don't care. I'll be back in 5." Nathan shook his head. Brooke and Lucas were two of the most different people he had ever met, yet when they were together they were perfect. It was kind of how he thought he and Haley were. How wrong he'd been about that one.

"Come on! Budge up NAtey." Brooke bundled into the car beside him carrying a huge box of DVD'S.

"Um, aren't you sitting up front with Luke?" Brooke sighed,

"No Natey, Luke is driving and therefore will be boring. You on the other hand will be my riding buddy. So come on Luke, put your foot down!" Brooke giggled, until they told Nathan where they were really going, this was going to be a very fun trip, "Nathan, will you help me choose which DVD's we're gonna be watching on the way? Yeah? Okay then. So the range of DVD's we have today starts off with '10 things I hate about you', 'save the last dance', 'Bridget Jones 1 & 2', 'Love Actually', 'She's All That', 'She's the Man', '40 days and 40 nights', 'Legally Blonde 1 & 2', 'Pearl Harbour', 'The Parent Trap', 'Fame', 'Flashdance', 'Dirty Dancing', 'Pretty in Pink', 'Footloose'; then we have the Disney Princess films; and you know, more, but I can see you zoning out. So we'll start with just those few." Nathan looked blankly at Brooke. Most of the films she had just mentioned he never even knew existed, never mind knew what they were about.

"Don't worry Nathan, I'll choose for you this time." Brooke shoved Legally Blonde into the player and the first song started to play. Nathan groaned. A chick flick about a blonde who was supposed to prove to people that she was clever no less. This film was going to be the longest of his life…

…Nathan soon realized that the film had ended. He was quite ashamed to say that he had completely gotten into the film. He'd wanted to kick that creepy professor's ass, and what a mighty fine ass that Elle Woods had when she was in that little bunny outfit. Luke chuckled,

"I know I can't see you dude, but you were completely engrossed in that weren't you? You didn't speak for a whole hour and a half!"

"Ohoh, boys, before you get into an argument over the wonder that is Legally Blonde… Luke I think it's time. Pull over!" Nathan watched in bewilderment. Time for what? How come Luke seemed to know exactly what to do yet he had no clue? "Right Luke, lock the doors, I'll restrain him." Before Nathan knew what had happened, Brooke was sat on his knee and was holding his arms, tightly. " Look Nathan, I know you might get mad right now but we're not going to see a basketball match." Nathan frowned,

"What?"

"We're – not – going – to – see- a – basketball – match, game, whatever," Brooke repeated clearly for Nathan to understand, "Instead we're going to Tree Hill." Nathan looked at Brooke,

"And that would make me mad because?" Brooke sighed,

"We're going to Tree Hill so that we can bring back Haley." Brooke could feel Nathan tensing at the mention of her name, so Brooke got a tighter hold on him. "That creep Jonathan took her away and so we're now going to get her back."

"And what makes you think I'd want to get her back?"

"Because Luke tells me you have been completely miserable since, well yesterday, and you've been really boring since she left." Nathan's fists were now clamped shut and he looked as though he was going to hit somebody.

"What if I don't want to see her?" The anger was evident in his voice and Brooke got just a little bit nervous,

"Of course you want to see her, you love her." Nathan's voice suddenly turned quiet,

"No I don't." Brooke sighed,

"Yes you do; love doesn't just go away in two days Nathan. I know you have basically no experience of it but I know that you know that. I know you're angry now and you may be entitled to a bit of that and I know you are going to sulk for a little while but I want you to know; Haley is in danger when she's with that creep. I don't know what he's going to do to her but I'm guessing there has to be something. So even if you don't' love her, and you don't want to be with her, I know you still care for her and she needs our help." Nathan grunted. He wasn't happy at all, however Brooke did have a point. Of course he still loved Haley, but he was hurt and mad. That wasn't going to stop him helping her though. When Nathan looked up, he saw Legally Blonde 2 starting up. He looked at Brooke and she was smiling at him. This was her peace offering.

Nathan cheered up whilst the film was playing and he was laughing and joking with Brooke by the end of it. Brooke decided they all needed a good topic of conversation.

"You know I thought Nathan was so much hotter than you when you both walked into our cabin," Luke spluttered,

"What? I thought you liked me but you just wanted to play hard to get and therefore started to flirtily argue with me!"

"Oh no. I really did hate you. Nathan was definitely more my type. I thought, no offence Luke, that you looked a bit booky." Nathan chuckled,

"Well I guess I thank you for the compliment then Brooke."

"You're welcome. You know it's weird, Luke is the last person I ever thought I'd end up with. I've never dated a guy like you before."

"Right, but you prefer me and my body now don't you?" Luke was being serious now. He did not like to be beaten by his brother, and he definitely did not like his girlfriend telling him that she used to prefer his brother.

"I don't know if you want to hear the answer to that question sweetie, it might hurt your feelings."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

After stopping at a service station for a toilet break for Brooke, the three of them, now slightly subdued stepped back into the Range Rover.

"Okay, for film number 3 I was thinking The Parent Trap, what do you think riding buddy?"

"Um, I've already seen it Brooke, and it makes me feel sick for hours afterwards." Brooke raised her eyebrows.

"The Parent Trap makes you feel sick? I've sat with two year olds to watch this film. I though you were a big brave boy Nate. Is this your only weakness?" Brooke started to laugh hysterically. How could anyone possibly feel sick at that film? She had watched it dead on 367 times, and she'd never seen blood or gore or any of that stuff.

"Shut up. Look, it's that bit where Hallie and Annie start to like each other, and they bring out the oreos. And then the peanut butter. I'm sorry but that us something I cannot watch again and again it makes me feel so sick." Brooke thought for a minute and realized he was right.

"Ugh I know, I hate that bit, it's so gross,"

"I just can't get my head round how Luke can like it so much." Brooke squealed,

"Oh my god! Haley loves it too! I scream at her every time she brings the two out together on the sofa." Brooke suddenly became lost in thought. "Hey Nathan, don't you think that this is all some sign that says we should be together?"

The horn blared on the car. Lucas was angry.

"Oh honey! Baby, I was only joking. You're the only one for me!" Brooke leaned right over onto the front seat and wrapped her arms seductively around his neck. Unfortunately, this meant that Luke couldn't see.

"Dude, look out, we're gonna crash!" Nathan shouted and sure enough, seconds later they were lodged in a huge sand bank.

"Oopsys," Brooke giggled. Until she met the gazes of the two boys glaring at her. "Hey, it wasn't totally my fault! You Lucas should keep your freaking eyes on the road and you Nathan should stop flirting less so I don't have to apologize to my boyfriend! I am the innocent bystander in all of this!" Brooke looked sweetly and innocently at the two of them.

Cursing, they both clambered out of the doors,

"Ooh goody, are you gonna pull us out?" A very annoyed Nathan had no time for the wide eyed Brooke,

"No Brooke. If you didn't realize, I am not Superman. We're going to go flag down some help seen as we're stuck in this desert all thanks to your stupid ass." Brooke was about to protest but one look at him and she thought better of it.

"Well sorr-eey.," Brooke muttered. "In any case, you're not going to get help like that." Cursing, she searched the Range Rover for one of her suitcases.

Sure enough, the trucks and cars that passed by Luke and Nathan passed without a second glance at the two and carried on on their merry way.

"Dude, you know this is never gonna work." Lucas sighed and then suddenly his eyes widened,

"Uh, Brooke…" Nathan frowned,

"No, this is me, Nathan. Man you are hooked on that girl!" Lucas shook his head, seemingly in a daze and pointed behind Nathan's shoulder. Nathan turned around and sure enough there was Brooke in a red bikini top and some Daisy Dukes. "Brooke, this is no time for sunbathing. For God's sakes girl get some freaking clothes on and come and help us pull this thing out." Brooke looked at Nathan disdainfully.

"Me? Help pull out a car? From a sand dune? Um, let me think about that one… uh … no. I'll occupy myself thank you very much." Nathan just grumbled and turned to the mound of sand that was his brother's car.

As Brooke heard a low rumble in the distance, the two boys started to get to work on shoveling sand from the hood of the car. Brooke smiled – men had no common sense at all.

As the truck neared, Brooke started to look tired. She knew that the sweat glistening on her body due to the 00 degree heat was making her look better than usual. And sure enough the driver and his truck slowed down to a halt next to her and wound down his window.

"Hello little lady; what sort of crisis do I find you in?" He smiled, showing off his almost full set of gold teeth. Brooke tried not to cringe. Instead she smiled seductively and leaned slowly forward, enjoying his flustered gaze. Brooke's famous damsel in distress voice was put seamlessly into action,

"Well, you see gorgeous, me and my brothers are travelling down from New York to see our family, 'cos our mama's real sick, you know?" Cue the fake tears, "And so I been getting all excited about it and have been looking forward to this for weeks. B…but when we got to here our car just started spinning and I thought I was gonna die for sure. But we all got out of the car just fine and we were waitin', and waitin', and all these cruel, heartless guys kept drivin' on past us without a second look. And now it's getting real late, and these are the only clothes I brought and I heard it gets real cold in the desert at night…" Brooke smiled sweetly. This guy was enraptured and when she turned to see her 'brothers'' reaction, hell, even Nathan looked proud.

"You sure them guys is your brothers?" As sure as I am that you are the most gorgeous man in the world, thought Brooke. But maybe that was too unbelievable and taking it a bit too far.

"As sure as I am that your pretty little ass is gonna let us share that truck," One wink and he was won over.

"Well hop on in and I'll go help them brothers o' yours to go get that car out." Brooke smiled to herself. Both Luke and Nate would owe her big time after this. She wondered what Haley was doing at this moment in time. If Jonathan had done anything bad to her Brooke swore that he would be getting a lot worse than her stiletto in his Achilles tendon HeH

. That was just a starter – she wasn't exactly going to ruin her Manolo Blahnik's on some guy was she? But she'd do it now, She'd gladly rip up every item in her wardrobe into shreds if it meant keeping Haley safe. Haley was hers now, hers to protect, and the only person she would ever think of handing over responsibility to would be Nathan. Yeah, he'd done some pretty shitty things, but he was here now, so that had to count for something. Suddenly Lucas' smiling face caught her eye out of the window. He was gesturing madly for her to wind it down.

"Hey big brother!" Lucas scowled,

"Why'd you have to say that? It makes me all ergh just to think about it." Brooke looked at him.

"Um, he wouldn't have picked us up if he knew I was with you! He wants me, so I might as well keep his fantasy going on a little while longer."

"Brooke. He does not want you. I just came here to tell you that the car's fine but we're gonna stay here tonight 'cos I'm tired and I don't trust Nathan to drive my car." Brooke looked at her boyfriend in disbelief.

"Are you being serious? You're gonna make me stay in some crappy hotel in the middle of humdrum - !" Brooke's voice was now raised,

"Brooke! Shhh! You'll upset old George. He lives round her," Luke looked around at the miles and miles of sand uncertainly, "somewhere."

"George? Is that his name?"

"Uh no, it's just that me and Nathan realized that he bears a striking resemblance to George Clooney." Brooke knew that he could not be being serious, if they were looking at the same guy in any case. But she decided to play along and pretended to ponder,

"You know what Luke? I think you're right! I am so gonna say yes when he invites me to his house tonight." Luke sighed,

"Sweetie, there is no way he is going to invite you over, get it out of your head."

"Whatever you say Lukey, whatever you say." Brooke stepped out of the truck,

"You ready to go now boys?" George nodded,

"Uhuh, we're all strapped up, hop on in," Lucas stepped in first, with Nathan behind and then Brooke jumped over the youngest brother onto her boyfriend's knee. After a moment's thought, Brooke decided to make Luke pay for not believing what she said.

"Hmm, you know what, I'm going to move onto Nathan's knee. I'm not really big on the whole incest thing like Luke is…" Luke scowled,

"OH really? If I recall correctly it was you who tried to make out with me on New Year's Eve last year," Brooke gasped and then sighed,

"Ah well, I'll just have to make the most of my PLATONIC relationship with the most gorgeous brother in the family, seen as it's cold and I need someone to keep me warm without trying to feel me up." Brooke knew she'd struck a nerve with the whole 'most gorgeous brother' thing as Luke sulked for the rest of the journey and Brooke smiled happily. After all, George had reassured Lucas that there was a Hilton in town.

"George…" Brooke began,

"Huh? Why'd you kids keep callin' me George? It's not my real name you know." Brooke smiled.

"Well my brothers pointed out the very true fact that you look very similar to a Mr George Clooney," Brooke smiled sweetly.

"Nah I don't. You makin' that up?" Brooke looked shocked.

"I would NEVER joke around about George Clooney, he is the reason for Luke's very existence!" George looked confused and Luke glared at Brooke, daring her to carry on,

"Well, between you and me George, it was a long story involving our parents and some rather naughty role play."

"Well I thank you for the compliment then," George smiled bashfully,

"Here we are, we're about to turn into town," Brooke leaned excitedly out of the window,

"HILTON! Here we come!"

"Uh no little lady, I think your pronouncing that wrong," Brooke's face fell slightly, "It's actually the Hiltones Hotel," Brooke's smile fell completely from her face and she turned round to face Lucas,

"Hiltones?" Lucas went pale and shrugged. Brooke felt like she was about to scream. Nathan began to laugh. One sharp jab in his leg with her finger nail was all it took to shut him up. But Brooke couldn't even smile. All she could think about was how horrible this place was going to be. A one-story building began to appear which it soon became clear was going to be their hotel; it's lights flickered which meant you could see the moths hanging round. And Brooke hated daddy long-legs. Supposedly they could kill a human being, they just didn't know how to use their power. They were completely harmless, her dad used to tell her. But Brooke had always worried about the what if. What if she found the one daddy long-legs in the world who had actually realized its' power?

Brooke was interrupted in her thoughts by Nathan pushing her out of the truck. Once George had headed inside with their bags, Brooke turned to face Luke,

"Baby, I am begging you. Please do not make me go in there. I will do anything you want if you say I do not have to go into that hell-hole. Look, I will be your sex slave for the rest of my life if you don't make me go in there…"

"Kinky as that sounds, I am going to have to turn you down," Brooke scowled,

"You know, I would NOT be having this problem if I was dating Nathan." Lucas spun around,

"What!" He was angry, and Brooke could tell.

"You heard me. Nathan would never have been able to turn down that offer. Trust me to fall in love with the booky brother." Luke turned away and started to unload the many more bags that lined the range rover. "Well fine then boys, if no-one is going to talk to me then I'll go sort out the rooms." Brooke stalked off and within seconds came across a reception desk. However there was no receptionist. All that was in front of her was a large, old bell.

Brooke pinged it.

No answer. She pinged it again.

Still no reply –

PINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPINGPI-

"Okay! Okay! I heard you the first time, I'm comin'. What do you want?" Brooke sighed exasperatedly.

"Well seen as we're in a hotel…" Brooke saw the blank look on the woman's face, "I would like to book two rooms, a single and a double." Brooke turned to giggle at the three mens' attempts at getting her suitcases through the narrow door.

"I'm afraid to say that won't be possible." Brooke stared,

"What?"

"It will not be possible to provide you with a double and a single room – we have only a double available."

"There are no cars in the FREAKING car park, how can you say this hotel is FULL!"

"I am sorry, there is no more that I can tell you. Now would you like the double room?" Brooke rolled her eyes.

"Gimme the keys."

And turning to Nathan said,

"You're taking the floor."

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Saying goodbye to old George was pretty tough. After all he had basically saved their lives out in the desert. He said goodbye to Nathan and Lucas first and then no so subtly said,

"Hey little lady, if you don't wanna share that double bed with them brohers o' yours, then I'm sure I can find you some space in mine. What do you say? You and me; George Clooney at your service." Brooke smiled sweetly, trying not to laugh.

"Oh lord, you have no idea how much I'd love to. But after such a long day I really am tired. But you know what, if I can convince these two to let us stay another night, I'll look you up tomorrow." Brooke winked and then the three roadtrippers headed inside.

"Before you say anything, yeah you were right Brooke." Luke's angry voice shocked her.

"Hey Nathan, there was a diner about 5 minutes walk from here in the direction we came from. No need to take the car. I need food. Sugar, carbs, the lot. Please?" Once Nathan had walked out of the motel, Brooke and Lucas walked in silence to their room. It was strange; the was the first time a silence between them had felt awkward. Brooke jiggled the key in the lock.

"Well, here we are!" Luke just grunted. The room wasn't that bad – there was a double bed in the centre with enough room on the floor for Nathan to sleep beside it. There was even a tv in the room. A small shower room lay to the left of the main bedroom and even that didn't look as bad as she'd expected it to be. Once Brooke had finished inspecting everything in the room, she turned to Lucas.

"Now will you please tell me what your problem is?"

"My problem!" Brooke nodded her head and then screamed to herself or no-one in particular,

"I knew there was a reason I stopped dating guys! I'm allergic!"

"Allergic to guys? Or just allergic to me? I'm sure you'd be able to bring yourself to date Nathan, don't you think?" Brooke's mouth widened in shock.

"What?"

"You heard me. Seen as Nathan is so perfect and gorgeous and so right for you. Go date him. He's obviously more worthy of you than I am." Brooke shook her head, her eyes filling with tears,

"Luke, I didn't mean any of that stuff, I guess I was just mess-"

"Brooke! You even had the nerve to say 'why am I dating the booky brother?'" Brooke shook her head, tears falling freely down her face.

"No, I didn't say that, I said 'rust me to fall in love with the booky brother.'" Lucas was about to reply when he stopped.

"Wait a minute, did you just hear what you said?"

"Look, I'm sorry I called you booky-"

"No not that bit. The other part. The part where you said you loved me."

Brooke stared.

"I said that? Oh my god I said that! And I didn't even have to think about saying it! I'm in love! I'm in love with YOU! I'm in LOVE with LUCAS Eugene SCOTT!" Luke looked sincerely at her,

"Are you sure?" Brooke beamed, an obvious answer. "Well I'm in love with you too." Luke leaned into Brooke but she pulled away, leaving him more than a little confused.

"Luke? Will you just hold me? I've never been in love before and I want to make it… special." Luke nodded and silently led Brook over to the bed where he enveloped her in his big, comforting arms. It was a moment of pure emotion. Or at least it was until Brooke giggled.

"You know, I said that I loved you earlier and neither of us even noticed!"

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By the time Nathan had returned from the diner, Brooke and Lucas' problems were a distant memory and they were lying together on the bed. Sight of Nathan caused Brooke to jump up.

"Nathan! Where the hell have you been? I was beginning to think about feasting on your brother I was so hungry!" Nathan scowled and snarled at Brooke.

"5 minutes? It wouldn't have taken 5 minutes by car! Your sense of timing must be seriously screwed Davis 'cos it took me 30 minutes to get there, and I ran." Brooke pouted.

"Sorry Natey… love the nickname by the way, I might keep it. So what food did you get?" Nathan unpacked the packets of greasy fries, fatty hamburgers, chicken nuggets with god knows what in them, milkshakes with additives of every colour and the sugariest doughnuts. Brooke groaned,

"My figure! Are you trying to make me freaking obese!" Nevertheless, Brooke started to pile food onto the paper plates that Nathan had brought back, leaving the two Scott brothers to stare, "What the hell are you lookin' at?" Brooke said with her mouth completely full, "A girl's gotta eat, leave me in peace!" Lucas sighed,

"You know what Nate, you can have her." Luke suddenly received a fistful of fries into his open mouth courtesy of Brooke.

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Several hours later. After Lucas had checked on his car and Brooke had had one of her famous showers – 57 minutes long to be exact – and then got changed into her pyjamas – they got into bed. Nathan was trying desperately to see what was going on on the tv, however it seemed to be in a foreign language. It was maybe Spanish… or Italian? Brooke sighed, she had no idea, it could be Russian for all she knew. Nathan, probably coming to the same conclusion, switched off the set and lay down onto the floor. Brooke closed her eyes.

Silence. That was nice. After a roadtrip with two boys, well, they just wouldn't shut up!

Brooke was interrupted in her silent thoughts by a loud rustling sound coming from down on the floor. Nathan.

"Nathan, I will ask you this as nicely as I possibly can… shut the hell up!" Nathan turned over again for good measure,

"Davis, you try sleeping on this damn floor and then try saying that again," Brooke folded her arms.

"Well come on then," Nathan was puzzled,

"Come on what?" Brooke sighed exaggeratedly,

"Come and get into this bed. It's a double and I'm sure mine and Lucas' skinnyness will more than make up for your fat ass-" But Nathan had already crawled into bed beside her. Luke stirred,

"What's going on baby?" Brooke smiled,

"Don't worry, Nathan's just coming to bed with us," Lucas' eyes shot open.

"What did you say?" Brooke pointed to the mound behind her,

"That thing over there was making too much noise over there and so I thought he might as well share with us. And seen as it gets so cold in the desert at night-" Luke rolled his eyes,

"Brooke, that may work with old George, but it sure as hell won't work with me. Brooke huffed and then settled into a comfy position. After a few moments, she broke the silence.

"You know, some girls would kill to be in this position, you know, being in bed with both of the Scott brothers." Nathan smirked,

"And you're saying you're not enjoying it? You wouldn't like me and Luke to lie next to each other?" Brooke thought about it for a moment,

"No… no, really I'm being serious. I know you two guys would love to be in bed with two sisters, and I'm sure you have had many the fantasy of me and Haley together, but it just doesn't do it for me. You know, with guys."

"You sure you wouldn't like to test that out?" Brooke laughed.

"I'm sure." Another few moments of silence was broken by Lucas.

"You do realize that it was your fault about the car and everything, don't you Brooke." Brooke shook her head animatedly.

"Nuhuh. Was not. It was you two!" Brooke closed her eyes and did not realize that the two brothers were plotting something over her head.

"Well, if that's the case…."

Brooke let out the loudest scream ever as they both started to tickle her. And Brooke was VERY ticklish. Something Luke and Nathan didn't exactly realize.

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As the three tried to get comfortable in Luke's car, Nathan growled;

"Now this Brooke, this was definitely your fault." Brooke giggled,

"No! NO way was it…" Seeing Nathan and Luke starting to advance on her made her change her mind,

"Okay, I admit, getting kicked out of the shittiest hotel in the world was maybe a little my fault…"

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_Sorry it has taken so long to update but this is extra long._

_Hope you enjoyed, please review!_


	13. Whipped

_HI,im going to try to update quicker now I have my own laptop! I hope you like this chapter, it's funny brooke just how I love to write her! Engjoy,_

_Xxx_

_And thanks for all you rreviews of the east chapter, they really keep me going!_

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Chapter 13- Whipped.

The night was silent - Brooke was in disgrace. She thought it was all quite amusing; you hadn't really experienced a roadtrip if you'd not been thrown out of a hotel. Unfortunately, the two boys didn't think the same way. Secretly, Brooke thought it was their fault - she would never have screamed so loud if they hadn't tickled her. Both of them insisted that they hadn't realised she was so ticklish. Brooke hadn't voiced her opinions - she feared if she had she'd have been shot by now. And Brooke wasn't joking either; she had seen the look on Nathan's face the night before. And it was scary.

Now Brooke was bored. She was sat in the car with two bodies that were dead to the world. The elder of the two snored quietly and looked content; his cute little mouth open as his chest swelled and then reclined. Nathan on the other hand had been snoring incredibly loudly for the whole night. So loudly, in fact, that on several occasions Brooke had awoken and seriously thought that a train was passing by. Yep, the two of them wouldn't notice if she stripped them down and left them there. But she couldn't do that. Brooke smiled. She could do something else… Brooke sprang into action.

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"Lukey! Wakey wakey! Shh, don't wake Nathan." Lucas stirred and rubbed his eyes. As if his senses had suddenly returned to him, he suddenly turned to the colossal sound that was coming from the front seat.

"I slept through that - Brooke what the hell have you done to Nathan's face?" Brooke smiled, satisfied.

"Shh baby, I'm getting him back for keeping me up all night and not letting me get my beauty sleep. It's just a bit of fun so we can see how far down the road we can get without him noticing. Please don't tell him!" Brooke stuck out her lower lip and Brooke caved in.

"oh alright, I guess it could be amusing," Brooke quickly kissed him on the lips.

"You bet it will broody!" Luke looked puzzled, "Yeah, well you seemed pretty broody yesterday and so I thought that this was the perfect time to give you a nickname…" Lucas smirked,

"Okay, broody it is then, as long as you'll be my cheery," Brooke beamed,

"You bet broody! Now go get dressed and I'll go wake Nathan so that our ears won't be in so much pain anymore." Luke chuckled and did as Brooke said.

Brooke crawled through to the driver's seat and started to shake Nathan awake.

"Nathan…… Nathan…. NATHAN SCOTT WAKE THE HELL UP!" He woke with a start and looked around as if it was the last place he'd have expected to be in. As it dawned on him the reason that he had been sleeping in a car, he glared at Brooke.

"Natey, please don't get angry, I am so sorry. And to show you how sorry I am, I've played a little practical joke in which you and me can laugh along together at. Now I've kinda drawn some art on Luke's face. And PLEASE don't tell him that I've done it, I wanna see how far we can get down the road before he notices." Nathan smiled at the excited Brooke.

"Well, I guess this could be fun, I'm just gonna go get changed,"

"You bet this is gonna be fun Natey," Brooke giggled. Neither of them knew what was coming.

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"Boys! Hurry up! I'm hungreeeey! And Brooke Davis is not nice when she's hungry!" Not 5 seconds later the three of them were already speeding down the road, Luke and Nathan desperately looking for the nearest diner. When Luke seemed not to be taking any notice either of them, Nathan leaned into Brooke.

"I must say Davis, I like the artwork." She chuckled,

"Me too Natey, me too." Luke suddenly breathed a sigh of relief,

"I can see a diner!" He parked the car and halted, "Brooke, seen as you're the one who is so desperate for food, how about you go and get it for the three of us." Brooke thought about it for a minute.

"Um broody, I don't think that's a good idea for two reasons. Number one because you know how long I take to make decisions, remember when we went out to buy those shoes? And Number two, because I might get so angry that you to have made me go inside all by myself and risk being attacked, that I don't get you guys anything at all." The two brothers were out of the car by the time she had finished. They were so easy…

…about 30 seconds later, two disgruntled Scott brothers returned to the car. Brooke noticed that they were both trying to look disgruntled, but secretly thought that they knew what was going on. Brooke feigned innocence.

"What's up boys? Where's my food?" Nathan looked at Luke to start.

"Well see Brooke, we got up to the counter, after deciding what we wanted to get for us, and before we could even say anything the guy on the counter said 'you know boys, we don't like practical jokes, so can you please get the hell out of here?' Next minute we had both been chucked out of the diner!" Brooke pretended to be very shocked,

"Well they can't just chuck you out for no reason whatsoever! What's wrong with you both? Go back in and demand an explanation!" Both of the men cheered up at this, they both loved to get the other into an embarrassing situation.

2 minutes later and both of them came out looking very very angry. 'Oops' thought Brooke. It looked like her fun had been short-lived.

"Davis! What they hell did you do to my face! You said it was just Lucas that you had messed up, but look at the state of me!" Brooke tried not to laugh, but she honestly couldn't help it. There was Nathan with 'boytoy' written across his forehead and lots of little pictures around his face to go with it. And then there was Luke, who she'd stolen her best friend Peyton's nickname for - Goldilocks. His face was covered with bears and anything that sprung to her mind at the time. Both of these faces were now contorted with anger and were flushed red. So it hadn't lasted long, but it had been funny. Brooke looked at the two men expectantly,

"What do you want?" Nathan spat out. She sighed,

"Well did you manage to get any food whilst you were in there?" Brooke smiled sweetly as the younger brother glared,

"You little -" Luke held Nathan back before he did anything stupid.

"Fine then! I guess I'll have to go in and get myself something…" Brooke looked a the two brothers, but neither of them looked like they were going to back down. Not even close. Brooke spun round but as she walked away she could hear Nathan's voice pleading with Luke for them to get away. Without her. Brooke grinned slyly, they just had no idea.

"Uh Natey, I sure would think before you try to pull a fast one on me. See, I seem to have something you need…" Brooke rooted around her pockets and Nathan just looked more and more smug, "uh, maybe, the keys." That stopped Nathan in his tracks. He turned and stormed off into the car. As Brooke made her way through the old doors into the diner, she could hear some latest rap song blaring through the speakers. Was it Eminem? Probably not, seen as he was the only one that Brooke could name.

She returned 10 minutes later with bags of food. She'd been delayed when she got talking to the guy on the counter - he'd replayed the two occasions that Luke and Nathan had walked into the diner. It had Brooke in hysterics and by the end of it she was crying with laughter. She'd also showed him the millions of pictures she had taken of them in full face paints when they had been sleeping, mouths open and everything. She had even gone to the lengths of recording Nathan's snores so that she could tease him mercilessly whenever she wanted.

Something had changed though, she realised as she stepped into the car. What was it? Had she actually stepped into the wrong car? Then it hit her. She had no-one to keep her company in the backseat. Nathan had moved next to Lucas in the front. They were both silent, waiting for Brooke to explode. So she didn't.

"Lukey baby, will you come and keep me company, I'm feeling a bit lonely back here," Brooke whispered in that husky voice she knew he loved. She smiled as she could see him begin to waver, but her smile turned to annoyance when Nathan looked at his brother sternly and Lucas replied,

"Uh, sorry Brooke. Um, you know, I uh, um, hate Nathan to drive this car. It's my baby." Brooke huffed.

"And I'm not!" Brooke rooted through her bag. If that was the way they wanted it, then that was fine. She could have plenty of un all by herself. She eventually found what she was looking for.

"Ahah! Gotcha! Legally Blonde 3, I have been waiting so long to watch you!" Brooke waited for a reaction from Nathan, and she certainly got one. Forgetting that he wasn't supposed to be talking to Brooke, he quickly spun around.

"What! Legally Blonde 3! I never even knew there was one!" Brooke smirked,

"Well Natey, between you and me, this is one of the first copies that has actually been made. My daddy hasn't seen me in a wile, and so, to make up for it he decided to pull some strings at his film company and send me this. Noone form the general public actually knows that there is a third one. And I was going to watch it with you. It's such a shame that you decided to go and sit next to Luke."

"Oh it's okay, I'm sure Luke won't mind if I come and sit with you, he'll just be driving anyway." Brooke shook her head forcefully,

"No no no, you and broody should have some brotherly bonding time together. Don't worry about me, I'll just be sat here, watching Legally Blonde 3." Brooke saw Nathan scowl. OH well, that's what you got for messing with Brooke Davis.

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"OH MY GOD WE ARE ACTUALLY HERE!" Brooke screamed, frightening the life out of Lucas and Nathan. Nathan had eventually coma and sat in the back seat with Brooke, it turned out he couldn't live without his driving buddy; so felt her scream with full force.

"Yeah Davis, and we couldn't have noticed that by the bigass sign that's right over there." Nathan pointed and Brooke just rolled her eyes.

"I don't care! I'm just so excited - LUKE STOP THE CAR. STOP THE CAR RIGHT NOW!" Luke quickly put his practised emergency stop into action, but before he had actually come to a halt, Brooke had already leapt out of the car. "P. SAWYER! Oh my god it's really you!" Brooke threw her arms around the curly haired blonde girl.

"Brooke! I've missed you so much! What the hell are you doing - wow, who are the hotties in the car you just jumped out of?" Brooke heard an annoyed cough coming from the boy standing next to Peyton.

"Jake! I missed you too! And don't you worry, you are so much hotter than those two. One of them is totally booky and the other is completely obsessed with Legally Blonde… Jenny! Don't you feel left out of all of this, I have most definitely missed you the most of all out of anyone. Goldilocks hasn't made you all angsty yet has she?" Jenny giggled and this reassured Brooke who gave the little girl a wink. Jenny was almost a year old, and was the daughter of both Peyton and Jake. They were the sweetest family ever and Brooke swore that if Peyton ever made Jenny all moody and depressed then Brooke was going to have to take her away.

After the first excitement of seeing Brooke, Peyton became curious. Why was Brooke back in Tree Hill? She hardly ever came to visit, only for birthdays and such, but as far as Peyton knew there were none of them happening any time soon. Brooke noticed Peyton's 'thinking' face and decided to intervene.

"Oh, you're wondering why I'm here? It's 'cos I missed you all so much! What, you're not buying that? Oh okay. Well it really is a long story, and it all has to do with our dear Haley. It's always the quiet ones isn't it? Well anyway, could we meet up for dinner tonight with those two heffalumps over there, and Jake too of course, and I'll explain everything? First we need to get to my house 'cos, after another long story, we ended up sleeping in the car - Peyton, it was not my fault! And don't even believe those two if they say it was - and I was the only one who had a shower. Broody and toyboy say they were going to have a shower this morning, but you know, how can you tell? But now they're smelling really bad. You'll probably be able to smell them all the way to your house. " Jake stared at Brooke blankly. He had not understood a word she had said. He looked down at Jenny, disbelieving that somebody could talk so fast and about something so random. Jenny chuckled.

"Right, I know I'm like one of your bestest friends ever, but even I got a bit lost in all of that. And uh, Jake probably thinks you're speaking Russian. So I got out of that that you want to meet us for dinner tonight? Well sorry sweetie, there's the Annual Tree Hill Christmas Ball on tonight, and I'm afraid to say it's the highlight of the year in Tree Hill." Peyton looked at Brooke, expecting her to be annoyed at being blown off. In fact, Brooke was jumping up and down madly.

"Oh my god! How could I forget? Of course it's the ball. Right, it starts at 8 yeah? Don't worry, we'll be there. Speak t'ya later, byee." Brooke ran off, leaving a whirlwind of chaos behind her. Jake had his mouth hanging wide open and Peyton was just chuckling. Brooke was definitely back.

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"Oh my god Scott brothers, I have like the most amazing news ever!" Nathan looked scathingly at the girl who had just bounced back to the car.

"What, you mean more amazing than when you found 'Just Married' tucked into the bottom of that huge box you brought?" Brooke didn't notice the sarcasm and just carried on.

"Well yeah! We are going to the annual Tree Hill Ball!" Brooke waited for a reaction from the two men. She didn't get one. They both stared blankly at her until Nathan processed what she was saying.

"No no no no no. You are NOT, I repeat NOT taking me to some rubbishy ball where I have to wear some stupid stuffy suit all night." Brooke looked undeterred.

"Don't worry Natey, it isn't rubbishy. And it's called a tux not a suit so don't get your panties all in a twist. So right now we are going to get said tux and we are gonna get me the most perfect dress EVER!" Nathan sighed and leaned back into his seat. This was going to be a long afternoon/evening.

"Davis? Isn't this all a bit like a movie? You know, like it is too predictable to be true?" Brooke just laughed and settled down in her seat. This was going to be fun.

The main reason Brooke wanted to go to the Ball was one that she wasn't going to tell anybody. Once Brooke had become friends with Haley, and forced her to go the ball, Haley had absolutely loved it. She wouldn't have missed a chance not to go to the Ball. Which meant that they might find Haley sooner than any of them had expected.

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"Hello? Is anyone here? Rita? It's Brooke! I need emergency assistance!" Brooke heard a crash from the ceiling and realised that something had fallen from upstairs. Next moment a red haired woman came bounding down the stairs.

"Brookey? Oh my god you're back! I have so missed my best customer! Peyton just does not come in here often enough now you're gone." Rita enveloped Brooke into a huge hug and then turned to the two boys standing awkwardly in the corner and hugged them too.

"Well Brooke, aren't you going to introduce me to these two fine specimens?" Brooke grinned, Rita was still Rita.

"Okay so boys, this is my Auntie Rita, and Rita, this is Lucas, my boyfriend and Nathan, the most annoying guy on the planet who I ahev no idea why we brought him along for the ride. There was an indignant cry of 'Hey!' from Nathan but Brooke and Rita just ignored it.

"Wow, so Brooke which one is yours, so I can have the other one." Nathan flushed bright red and Rita automatically knew that the one she referred to was him.

"Uh sorry Aunt Rita, but I think Nathan might be taken. By who you ask? Well, our very own Haley!" Nathan turned to storm out of the shop but Luke caught his arm. Luke had realised that they were clearly in a dress and tux shop. Nathan walking out meant that he would have to face the wrath of Brooke and her equally crazy Aunt by himself. And he wasn't sure that he could handle that yet.

"Right okay then Rita. As you know, it's the ball tonight, and I need two tuxes for these boys and something for me. Got something I might like?" Rita thought for a minute and then beamed.

"Got it. Right boys, please go into those two changing rooms over there, I will bring your clothes over to you shortly." The two boys followed these orders obligingly and Brooke sat on one of the sofas, leafing through the bridal magazines on the table.

5 minutes later, the Scott brothers appeared from their assigned changing rooms. Brooke gasped, they both did in fact look beautiful; and that was the word for it. Lucas' tux was black with a dark red bow tie and waistcoat, and Nathan's was almost matching but blue, bringing out the icy cold blue of his eyes. Nathan knew that he looked good, and was impressed, however Lucas looked uncomfortable.

"Aw broody, what's wrong?" Lucas shyly decided to tell her the problem.

"Well, uh , I feel so uncomfortable wearing this, it doesn't help the fact that I am wearing dark red, a colour that makes me feel stupid anyway. Why can't I wear blue like Nathan? I have blue eyes too!" Brooke looked to Rita for an answer, who just sighed.

"You can't both wear the exact same tux, that would look completely ridiculous. I'm sorry Lucas, but you will have to wear the red, it fits with the look I am going for." Luke hung his head, "Right then boys, I am now going to help Brooke. This may take a while longer than you two took, so I have a play station thingy out back that you can both play on." Nathan scampered quickly off, this was his type of paradise, whilst Lucas just soberly followed behind.

Brooke laughed. "Playstation?" Rita nodded,

"Yeah, the ten year old boys often get bored when their mum brings them here. I thought I might as well keep them happy as well. Now, I need to find a red dress…"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Brooke entered the house that obviously had not been lived in for a long time. It seemed that her parents had not returned from the 'vacation' they went on 4 years previously.

She sent Lucas and Nathan off to two different bathrooms on either side of the house. Brooke had been joking when she had said to Peyton that they both smelled; but they didn't exactly smell their nicest.

Brooke then made her way up to her bedroom on the second floor. She opened the door and things had been left exactly as they were on year before. Someone may have come in and cleaned, but they'd obviously been told to try not to touch anything. The cuddly toys that Brooke had slept with as a child were still lined up on her bed, her pink curtains surrounding the four poster. She made her way over to the wall hanging by her window. She had stuck on pictures of her memories throughout her life.

The material was long and stretched from one wall end to the other. At the very left were pictures of her as a baby, the only ones which had her parents in the pictures. Even back then Brooke was smiling constantly.

It moved on to when Brooke was a toddler, and she was standing in the most unfashionable clothes next to a girl with just as bad fashion taste which completely clashed with her blonde curly hair.

The pictures of these two girls slowly changed to them at the park, first days of school and then high school, were most of the pictures were taken with boys - they often had Jake in and then whatever random boy Brooke was with at the time - and then ones at parties where they were having a lot of fun, maube a little too much fun at times.

Pictures of them as cheerleaders, taken by Jake lined then next part of the wall.

About halfway through, a third girl started to enter all the pictures. Haley. She was just as smiley as the other two, and then pictures of Peyton started to peter out when Brooke and Haley went to New York. There were millions of pictures of Jenny as a baby and then Peyton, Jake, Haley and Brooke at special occasions.

Brooke smiled as she reached the end of the wall hanging so far and brushed a tears off her cheek that she hadn't realised was falling. She then quickly sprang into action and plugged her phone into a small device next to her computer. A few click of some buttons later and Brooke had pictures of the four of them (Haley, Brooke, Nathan and Lucas) at the cabin in the woods and most recently picture of the three of them on the roadtrip. Pictures of Lucas trying to drive with Brooke putting him off; Brooke and Nathan grinning cheesily; a picture of a large pile of sand, presumably covering a car, and then Lucas and Nathan in all their glory with writing all over their cheeks.

These were quickly stuck onto the wall and Brooke stepped into the shower.

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About 2 hours later, Brooke stepped out of her bedroom, completely ready. She knew that Lucas and Nathan were already ready, after about an hour they had come complaining at her door, but she brushed them off, sending them to the living room to watch some basketball or whatever they did.

Brooke glided down the stairs, giggling when she saw Luke and Nathan screaming at the tv. After about 30 seconds though, she got bored of them watching the tv and decided they should be watching her.

"Uhhuhhmm." Brooke cleared her throat. The brothers turned around simultaneously and Brooke grinned at their reactions. Nathan looked pretty impressed, and said 'looking good Davis' before turning back to the t.v, whilst Lucas' mouth was hanging down on the floor.

"You like baby?" She twirled.

"Uh… um… uh .. Yeah… I love."

Lucas was shocked. Well not shocked, because he knew how beautiful Brooke was, and she looked the most beautiful when she had no make up on at all. But she looked so sexy standing there in front of him. He now realised why Rita had made him wear red.

Brooke's dress was dark red and the neck line flowed downwards to her navel. It was long, however there was a large slit up the side which Luke could only gape at. Her hair was curled and her make-up was applied to perfection. Lucas was rudely interrupted in his thoughts by Nathan pulling on his sleeve.

"Come on bro' we're off, her lady has ordered so we must follow." Nathan smirked; he had realised how 'whipped' Lucas was.

Bu Lucas didn't care what others thought.

He was in love and he couldn't be happier.

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_Probably not as long as the last chapter though I had a lot of fun writing it._

_Sorry I haven't brought Haley back into it yet, but she IS going to return next chapter._

_ALSO IN NEXT CHAPTER:_

_Nathan finds Haley and Jonathan._

_Lucas gets a phone call from someone he really doesn't want to hear from._

_Hope you liked this, please review!_

_xxxxx_


	14. Falling, Falling, Breaking

**Hey I think this is like the shortest update time for me ever!**

**Theres a lot of drama her so I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 14 - Falling, Falling, Breaking.

"Davis, stop moving right now." Brooke looked at Nathan as though he was stupid.

"Natey, I have to move, it's called being alive." Nathan glared.

"Okay then Miss Smart - Ass, I will rephrase. Will you please stop jumping up and down madly in the back seat of this car when I am sitting next to you; it is making the whole of the car shake and I am getting fed up of it." Brooke deflated and stopped moving.

"I'm sorry. But, it's just, I'm so excited! It's the Tree Hill ball! The best thing, like ever!" Nathan sighed. Girls. They got excited over the most stupidest things ever. Nathan had been forced to come to this dance by Brooke, when he'd have much rather stayed at Brooke's watching basketball games all night. But what the Princess wants, the Princess gets. And that included making a fool out of him and his brother. He just hoped that his parents weren't going to be there. The last time he had seen them, it had ended in a fight. And it hadn't been pretty. Lucas had already rung the maids and found out that Deb and Dan Scott were on holiday, however you could never trust the maids to be honest or the Senior Scotts not to turn up to a dance. Because a dance meant publicity. And that's all Dan wanted in life.

Brooke's incessant moving started up again and Nathan looked at her for a second, and she stopped. It was funny how much power he had over her when he was in a mood. Actually, thinking about it, he never had any power over Brooke when he was in a mood. Which meant that Brooke was giving in to this demands too easily.

Which meant that something was up. Something that Nathan probably wasn't going to like.

He was about to ask Brooke about his suspicions when they arrived at the place. Luke, like a little puppy, jumped out of his seat and graciously opened Brooke's door for her. She awarded him with a quick kiss which was interrupted by a girlie version of Nathan's voice,

"Oooh Lukey baby! Are you not going to come and help me out of my car?" Nathan fluttered his eyelashes but was cut off when Luke came and tried to tackle him to the ground.

"Lucas! What the hell are you doing? We are at a posh dance! You cannot just start fighting with your brother whenever you want to! You are showing me up!" Lucas and Nathan looked up at Brooke's horrified face and both burst out laughing. This got Brooke even more agitated. Lucas decided that he needed to diffuse the situation or they would be spending their night with a very angry Brooke.

"Look Cheery," At the mention of her nickname, brooke started to smile, "I'm sorry, but me and my brother have been to so many of these dances - before you ask, there have been too many to count. And so now we just have to annoy some of the snobby people around here, we've been doing it for the last couple of years; I don't know why but it seems to help us get through this sort of evening."

Brooke contemplated this. It really was a good idea. She knew that her parents were exactly the type of people that Luke was talking about, and Brooke sure liked to rebel against them and their friends…

"Okay then! Let's go get this party started!" Luke and Nathan looked shocked at Brooke's sudden change of heart, but decided not to ask. "But first, well in any case, before I get completely off my face, I have to go find someone." Brooke began to walk away from them towards a door at the other side of the room when she felt two different pairs of arms pulling her backwards.

"Oh no you don't. You have dragged me all the way here to play gooseberry with you and Luke, when I would have happily watched basketball, but now you are thinking of leaving me with him so that we both look like the saddest cases ever? I don't think so. We're coming with you." Brooke looked slightly worried.

"Natey, I don't know whether you want to do that, see, I'm going to find…" Brooke lowered her voice down to a whisper "Haley." Nathan's features tensed visibly, so Brooke continued, "I have a feeling that she's going to be here, with that creep Jonathan who stole here away from me, I mean us, and I need to get her away from him as soon as possible before he has the chance to do anything to her. Unless he already has. It's 9 already, they could have been here for two hours, and I know that Jonathan can get lathered in a lot less time than that." Nathan looked at Brooke. She had no idea what he was going to say next.

"Okay. Well, we'll split up. First to find her rings the others. Got it?" Brooke was left in shock at the organisation of Nathan. She definitely hadn't expected him to want to help them. She still thought he was hurt and angry. He probably was, Brooke thought, but she knew he still loved Haley, he couldn't just turn his feelings off like a light switch.

X

Lucas set off to look for Haley. He obviously did not know her as much as Brooke or Nathan, yet he cared for her greatly. She was the person he'd felt a connection with when he entered the cabin. They were alike. She also reminded him of his best friend from when he lived in England. Her name was Charlotte. They were Charlie and Luke. They went everywhere together. Everybody had expected them to get together in the end. They would have been perfect. But then he'd met Cesca, and his whole world was turned upside down. It was literally a whirlwind romance and all thoughts and memories of Charlie faded in comparison to what he was experiencing with Francesca. And then he'd had to leave England for America.

He'd never seen Charlie again. He still thought of her. She was his childhood. But he knew he was never going to get her back. And so when he met Haley, it was almost as if Charlie was being born again. This, selfish as it was, was the main reason he wanted Haley back. He needed her.

X

Brooke had set off in the other direction. Her need for Haley was much greater. In a not so serious way, it was because she could not stand to have to look after Nathan any more than she had already. He was the biggest kid she had ever seen.

However Brooke also needed Haley for her. She couldn't survive without her best friend by her side, and it killed her to think that Haley was thinking bad of Brooke all the time that she had been away. Brooke couldn't stand thinking that Haley had been hurt.

Brooke pushed open the doors of many different rooms, but she couldn't find Haley anywhere.

X

Nathan had been the last to set out on their search for Haley. He'd been so ready to look for her but at the very last moment he had stalled. He thought of all the memories that they had shared over such a small amount of time…

"_So, this is my house!" Haley giggled excitedly, the feelings of how afraid she had been just moments before in the mall with those boys completely gone now that she was in the safe reach of Nathan. _

_Nathan smiled at the beautiful woman in front of him. He was sorry to say it, but Haley was definitely not the type of girl he had ever gone after before. Brooke would have been his girl. But Haley was different. The way she smiled, the way her golden brown curls cascaded around her face and the way she cared about anything and everything. He loved the way she worried about everything, from the fact that the bacon was going to burn to whether Brooke was going to get back from being out in the woods okay, even though Brooke had hurt her so much the night before. She was so forgiving, yet so easily hurt. Nathan thought that he would die if he ever hurt her that way._

"_So hunky Scott, what are we going to do?" Nathan thought for a moment. He was seriously considering suggesting truth or dare, because he knew exactly what he was going to dare her to do. But maybe that could wait until later. First he wanted to do something that he knew Haley loved._

"_I'm hungry, I say we make me some food!" Haley beamed, and Nathan realised that she had been worried about what he was going to say. There she was again, worrying. He knew there was something behind Haley that was making her not completely trust him, though he knew he needed to get past that wall so that se could put all of her faith in him…_

Nathan headed down the corridor in front of him. It was dingy, and it didn't look like many people had been down there all evening, if anyone ever did. But he sensed that he might as well keep trying.

He was four doors down of the corridor when he heard a voice. Two voices to be precise. And one of them was Haley.

She was telling someone to stop, that she didn't want to. And Nathan heard the urgency in her voice. He started to run down the corridor bursting open doors as he went. The final door came upon him, so, taking a deep breath, Nathan forcefully pushed open the door.

The sight in front of his eyes stabbed him through the heart. Some guy, who he presumed was Jonathan was pushing his Haley down onto a table, forcing her clothes off in the process.

And Haley didn't look happy about this at all. The tears were streaming down her face as she begged and pleaded for him to stop. There were slight tears down the bottom of her dress and her hair had been pulled down, the make-up around her face smudged.

Nathan rushed over to where the two of them were, throwing Jonathan onto the floor.

"How dare you do this to my Haley? How could you do such a thing? Are you so drunk that you don't realise she's telling you to stop?" Jonathan looked up at Nathan, blood spilling from his nose. Nathan gasped. "You're sober? You pathetic bastard. You're sober and you're doing this? You had better get out right now or I swear I will do something I will later regret… or actually maybe I won't regret it so you better run before I can catch up with you." Jonathan quickly got up and scuttled out of the room, clearly terrified at the anger he saw engrained on Nathan's face.

Once he had made sure he'd gone. Nathan turned to Haley. She was a mess, and crying, yet to him she still looked beautiful. He touched her cheek but she flinched away from him. He whispered soothingly to her.

"Shhh, baby, it's me, Nathan. I'm here for you now, he won't be able to touch you ever again. I promise I will keep you safe." Haley's eyes opened for the first time and the pain that Nathan saw in them hurt him so much that he thought he might die right there. But he knew he couldn't - he had to be strong for Haley.

At the sight of Nathan Haley was relieved, yet the pain from what he did to her came flooding back - the feeling that she had been trying to suppress ever since she had left his house. Nathan could see all this swirling around inside the girl that he loved, without her telling him anything.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Haley for the pain I caused you. Please forgive me."

And though she knew they would have to talk about it, for that moment she did. She forgot about everything that had happened and found comfort in his arms.

For he had come to find her. He had found her when she had been the most scared she had ever been in her life.

He had saved her.

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After searching the whole of the building without finding Haley, Brooke decided to follow the way in which Nathan had gone. Evidently Lucas had had the same idea as they both found each other striding down the dark corridor.

All the doors were open, and glancing inside, Brooke and Luke could tell that they were empty. Until they came to the last room. Inside was a sight that could warm the hearts of those made of stone. Nathan and Haley were stood in the middle of the room. Not talking. Not moving. Just being there.

Brooke coughed quietly to make their presence known and the two reluctantly broke apart. Brooke smiled. Rita really was very clever. She now knew why Nathan was wearing the ice blue colour. That was the exact colour of Haley's dress. It was strapless and showed off all her curves in the right places. The two of them complimented each other so well.

"Tutor girl! I've missed you so much! I have been so worried about you. We all have. We made this whole road trip for you. I had to endure two days in a car alone with these two goons." Haley giggled despite everything that had gone on. She knew that Brooke was trying to put a funny spin on everything, and frankly that was exactly what she needed.

"Come on Tigger, I'm sure it couldn't have been THAT bad." Brooke thought for a moment.

"I suppose not, after all I did get to meet George. Ouch Lucas that hurt! Oh, um , yeah Luke was great as well. You know, in fact it was just Nathan that was annoying." Haley smiled.

"You know, he's not all that bad…" She grinned up at Nathan's now smiling face.

"Well I'm glad to know you think that…. 'cos I sure don't. Nathan if you come and hit me I will never let you watch the Legally Blonde trilogy ever again. Good. So now you've quietened down, I think we should go and enjoy the party. I for one am intending to get totally smashed so that I can completely embarrass my parents who I have not seen for more than 4 years." The three faces that were looking at her turned sombre, but Brooke plastered a smile across her face and led them all upstairs.

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The four of them were having a great night, Brooke especially. She had danced with Haley, Lucas millions of times and even got Nathan onto the dance floor. She was getting into full party flow when a person in front of her stopped her in her tracks. Lucas, her partner for this dance looked at her strangely before turning around and noticing the man who had evidently upset Brooke.

Lucas put his arm firmly around Brooke's back o show he was there for her, and then he felt the presence of Nathan holding Haley nearby.

"What do you want Jonathan?" Brooke managed to speak out, the venom in her tone clearly evident. "Haley is leaving you so would you please…. Actually scrap the please… leave." Jonathan leered at Brooke, clearly having drunk far more alcohol than he should have.

"I'm not going anywhere, Brookie." Brooke's anger rose, "As you know already, little Haley over there is not putting out. But you will won't you. You did before, remember?" Brooke turned flame red as Jonathan chuckled and turned around and left.

Brooke turned to Haley, the tears already streaming down her cheeks. She could see that Haley was in a similar state.

"Brooke?" Haley whispered, not being able to get out the words that she so desperately needed to say, "Is this true? Oh god Brooke, don't tell me it was when I was going out with him." Brooke could not say anything to this. "Oh no. No no no. How could you do this to me Brooke? I trusted you…" Haley picked up her skirt and fled from the building. The music had now stopped, leaving the rest of the hall in silence. Brooke chased after her, quickly followed by both Lucas and Nathan, confused as to what was going on.

"Haley! Wait! Please, Haley listen to me -" Haley spun round, her eyes spitting with the hate that she so clearly felt for Brooke.

"Listen to you? Why the hell should I do that? You SLEPT with my boyfriend. A guy that I loved so much it hurt! And you're supposed to be my best friend! Best friend! Does that term not mean anything to you Brooke? 'Cos it sure means a lot to me."

"Haley, I didn't even know you back then, he was just another faceless guy." Brooke was now sobbing, desperate to get Haley to forgive her. Haley's tears were still falling silently but it was the anger that most stood out on her face. She laughed sarcastically.

"Well well well, another of Brooke Davis' many conquests, what a surprise," But then Haley's voice turned to desperation, "Another faceless guy? Brooke, he was MY GUY! Do you not even realised the meaning of that? He was MINE. You know, I knew that you didn't care about other people's relationships, but I never thought that you would go and ruin mine. And then you kept it from me from all these years. How could you do that to me Brooke? How could you?" Brooke fell to her knees as she watched the figure of Haley quickly fade into the distance.

"Because that is the Brooke Davis that I was."

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Haley started to run away, away from the person who had just broken her heart into a million tiny pieces. The one person she had trusted throughout everything, the person she had counted on, had turned out to be one big lie.

And Haley just couldn't cope with it anymore.

She stopped after running for what seemed like hours. However she wasn't alone like she had expected to be. There were big, strong arms surrounding her, stopping her from falling to her knees.

She looked up and caught in her gaze the blue eyes of the man she loved. It was true, after everything she had finally come to realise that she loved him. All the time she had been with Jonathan, even though he had been being really sweet to her, all she could think of was Nathan.

"Nathan, I am so sorry that I have waited until now to tell you this, but I love you." Nathan smiled, even though she was going through so much pain she could still give out love to others. This girl was amazing.

"I love you too Haley-bub. I love you so much it hurts."

She loved him. It was true. He was the man that she couldn't keep her mind off. He was the man who made her feel a glimmer of hope when there was none. He was her knight in shining amour.

He was there for her when no-one else was.

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Brooke felt the arms of Lucas surround her as she let her tears fall to the ground. She had never felt so terrible in her life. But she didn't feel terrible for herself. She felt terrible for what she had done to Haley, for all the pain that she had caused her. She never knew haley when she had slept with Jonathan, but Haley was right. Brooke had slept with anybody, not caring for the feelings of others that she might be hurting so much more.

Her heart was breaking in a way that she never thought was possible. Only Lucas' arms were stopping her from breaking in too completely.

She had no idea why he was here. She had done the worst thing possible ever and he was still here beside her. Her tears and the soothing words that were being whispered into her ear was interrupted by a harsh, repeated ring.

Luke was annoyed at this interruption. He knew what Brooke did was wrong, but he ha to stand by her, she hadn't known what she was doing at the time, and if she didn't have him then she'd have no-one.

He pulled his phone out of is pocket and looked at the caller id. It was his house.. How could anybody be calling from his house? Nathan and him were here. And then it dawned on him.

Francesca.

"Francesca. What do you want?" His tone was angry, but at the moment he didn't care.

"Hey darling, it's me. I was just ringing to tell you that I'm here in Tree Hill!" Luke's heart sank. What the hell was she doing here and what was she going to try and mess up for him next?

"Cesca. Is there anything seriously wrong?"

"No, of course not, why would there be?"

"Go home Francesca, I don't want you here. Go back. I can't cope with you being here when I need to be there for my friends. So just leave." Luke could practically feel the anger emitting from Cesca at that very moment in time.

"That's how you feel about your son? Well then fine you piece of something that does not even deserve to be on the bottom of my shoe. I'm going. So go to hell." with that Cesca hung up.

Luke was shocked at the thought of not seeing his son, however Francesca not being in his life was a good thing.

Lucas yet again approached the fragile girl in the dress who had collapsed on the pavement in front of him.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Bit of drama there for you. I hope I did it justice.**

**  
There is a lot more drama t come…**

**So please review, I wanna know what you think!**

**Thanks for reading**

**xxxxx**


	15. Always and Forever

_Yeah, the last chapter may have been confusing, and you might have been mad to hear that brooke was such a bad friend, but I promise it will be explained. And if you still don't get it, pm me and il explain this fully._

_This is for Sophiavalentine, thanks for all your responses and I hope you like…!_

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Chapter 15 - Always and forever.

Her heart was pounding; only the soothing sound of his voice in her ear could calm her, though she was so worked up that even that didn't really work.

"Baby. You need to look at me. I am going to say some things now that you will probably not like hearing. But I need to say them to you. I also want to let you know that I love you so much, and I am going to be standing by you forever, no matter what you do, I'm never going to leave or hurt you ever again." Haley looked at the tall man standing in front of her. He really was beautiful. And he'd told her that he loved her; even after she'd run away, he still loved her. That had to mean something. Even though he was going to say something bad, she was sure she could cope with it; they loved each other.

"Hales, I know you are so angry at Brooke right now, and I can totally understand that. But you need to think about it. What was Brooke like when she was younger? It seems like she wasn't the nicest person. But if Brooke is telling the truth, and I think she is judging by how she is acting, she didn't even know you when she slept with Jonathan. And I know how much it hurts to find out he cheated on you, but you already knew that, and if Brooke didn't know you then, well you can't blame her too much. Blame the person that she was, but after this road trip I can say quite easily that Brooke is an amazing person with an amazing heart, and though we love to fight, she is a very special person. I know she is not the person that she was back then, and you're lucky to only know this Brooke. Please do not take it out on the Brooke who we all know and love." Haley looked at him for a second. She couldn't believe that he was saying it. He was supposed to be here for her, yet with just two days of properly knowing Brooke he was taking her side?

Haley couldn't take this anymore. It was like everybody was against her. She turned around to walk away. However this time she felt a strong grip on her arm.

"Oh no you don't, you are not getting away that easily again Haley. You keep running away Haley, and you just can't do that, it simply makes things worse. I know you have been hurt badly over the past few weeks but you can't keep playing the victim by running away, it's hurting the people you're leaving behind more than you will ever know.

Haley looked up into his sharp blue eyes. They were a mixture of emotions.

There was anger, because of the way she had tried to run away from him yet again. The memory of their time in the park still haunted his dreams.

There was sadness. He could see the pain she was feeling, but she didn't realise that he was feeling just as terrible.

There was hope. The hope that he and her could move on from this and stay together.

And most of all there was love. The love that kept her heart beating during the day, and her dreams flowing at night. She knew that everything he had just said came from the heart and maybe he was right. No, of course he was right. She had been running from everything in the past few days; Brooke, her heart, him.

And it wasn't fair on the people she left behind. They were the ones left to pick up the pieces.

And she knew that Brooke hadn't meant to hurt her at all - she wouldn't even have known Haley existed when it had all blown up - but it was just the fact that the old mean Brooke had affected her life without knowing it. And really, it hurt her to know that there was a Brooke before Haley had met her.

"I know Nathan, I get what you say completely. But I just can't go back to her right now. I've gotta think what I'm going to say. I'm still hurting. And I'm never going to run again, that's not who I wanna be. But will you stay with me tonight Nathan? Please? I really don't think that I can be alone."

Nathan smiled at the beautiful face of the girl in front of him. She really was beautiful. And that's the reason why he had told her how he really felt. HE couldn't bear to see her get hurt any more than she already had. And running away and keeping this grudge against Brooke was not going to help at all. He saw how much Brooke had been affected when Haley left the first time, it was as if half of her was missing; though she tried to hide it. And he guessed that this was the way that Haley would feel without Brooke in her life too.

"Of course I will. But where are you staying? Not with him are you?" Haley smiled her most genuine smile of the day.

"Of course not silly, I'm at my house. And don't look so shocked, my parents and endless brothers and sisters are out in the RV somewhere. We just keep this house as a base." Haley's eyes turned sad, Nathan could tell that she missed her parents and family. That was who Haley was, the most caring person he had ever met.

They turned into the darkness, however neither of them noticed it. Because for them, they were simply heading for the light.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lucas enveloped Brooke into his arms, her pain penetrating through his body. He could feel everything she felt; every tear burnt him like acid, every heart-wrenched sob cut through him like a knife.

And for once in his life, Lucas Scott did not know what to do. He had no idea how he could make her feel better. She was in so much pain, he had never experienced it before. He had felt it when Cesca left him of course, with his son, however he was more in shock, and he was never exactly sure if Billy was his. Though it killed him to say it, he wasn't even sure if his son was his.

But this, this was on a whole other level. The pain he was feeling for another human being - it was something he had never felt. And he was glad, because this was tearing him up inside.

Brooke looked up at Lucas, shocked that he was still with her. She was the most horrible person in the world. She had broken her friend's heart yet again, and had kept one of the biggest secrets from her. She had lied to her best friend for years. And Brooke didn't know if Haley would be able to forgive her.

"Brooke baby, I need you to look into my eyes. Come on pretty girl, look at me." Brooke slowly lifted her head but avoided looking right into his eyes. She did not know what she would see if she looked at them. Anger, hate? Lucas realised what she was doing and forcefully yet gently pulled her face to look at his.

"Brooke I love you. It hurts me to know that you used to be so torn and messed up when you were younger, but only because I know that it's hurt you. I love you. You're my cheery. You're the reason I get up in the morning. I need you to be ok for me too. I don't know if I'd ever be able to live without you. So baby, please tell me what really happened, and then we can sort out what we're going to do. Because I'm going to be here every step of the way. I am not going anywhere."

Brooke looked into his eyes. Really looked. So hard that it seemed she could see into all his thoughts and swim in the blueness that enveloped her. She didn't know if she'd be able to find the words to say what she really felt. However she suddenly started explaining the story that she had kept to herself for 5 years.

X

"I'd had a terrible day. It was my birthday. I woke in the morning and was hoping my parents might be there, you know, to say happy birthday to their 16 year old daughter. I got downstairs and the answer phone was flashing. I was so happy. I really thought that this was going to be a message from them, either saying Happy Birthday or telling me that they'd be back later. I was wrong. So so wrong. It was them, but they had called to remind the maid that she needed to iron their best clothes for when they got back. They'd forgotten. They didn't even realise it was my birthday. I had breakfast with the maids and stuff, who were basically my parents but it wasn't the same. I went to school and Peyton and Jake had a cake and stuff for me. That was the best part of the day. The day that I felt like everything was okay. I had a crush on Jake. Yeah I know, the bad girl going for the good guy. It was completely perfect. Everything was perfect. I was going to tell him whilst we were eating the cake. I was going to reform from the bad girl that I was, all for him. It didn't matter what other people would think about us being together. All I could think about was him. Him and me. Brooke Jagielski. Brooke Penelope Jagielski. Okay so that wasn't perfect but he could always be Jake Davis. It didn't matter though. We were going to be together, everything was going to be perfect.

I had just finished one piece of cake when Peyton declared that they needed to tell me something. She started talking about how we had always been a three and that she never wanted that to change, but that something had happened. She was glowing, positively glowing. I could tell that this was something to do with a guy. Who was it? The bad boy from our math class? The hot football guy from biology? But in the end it turned out it was neither.

The guy she had chosen was Jake. Jake. My Jake. The guy that I had wanted for so long, yet couldn't find the words to say anything. The great Brooke Davis had not only fallen for a boy, and a good one at that, but she had been beaten to his love by her best friend. I couldn't speak. My eyes filled with tears, although Peyton took these as happy tears. Jake hugged me too, his eyes happy with the laughter that he was going to experience in the next moments with his Peyton. It was true. Peyton and Jake were together. And I wanted so bad to be happy for them. But I just couldn't. How did Peyton not realise that I had feelings for Jake? How did I not realise that she did? That night they invited me out for a birthday meal. The three of us. But all I could think of was how it would be them two and then me by herself.

So I did the only thing that I knew how to do. I went out and partied. The Brooke that I so desperately wanted to be said goodbye and hid away again, waiting for another day that she could try and burst out again.

I partied so hard that night. I grinded against countless guys, all of them amazed at how they were managing to get so close to me, all of them trying to find a way to get me into the bedrooms upstairs. But I needed something real, to try and drag myself out of the situation I was in.

And then a boy came over to me. He said his name was Jonathan. He was different. He knew that I was upset. He got me a glass of coke and told me to talk to him. I was wasted enough then that I didn't realise the strong taste of vodka which was coming from the glass that he had just given me. Needless to say, by the end of that drink I couldn't even stand up.

But Jonathan was still a gentleman. He carried me upstairs, laid me down on the bed.

That's when it all started to go wrong. He started to take my clothes off. My top first. I registered that this was happening. And tried to squirm out of his grip. But he told me he was just helping me to get undressed so that I could fall asleep. I didn't realise what he was going to do to me until he started to take my panties off. I tried to scream but he just put his hand over my mouth. He had sex with me whilst I was almost unconscious. He was so brutal with me. I don't know whether he realised that I was a virgin or not. In any case as soon as he'd finished with me he left me on the bed. I must have fallen asleep or something. In any case Peyton and Jake came and found me the next morning lying on a bed wearing only a bra, my face stained with tears and the sheet with blood. They never asked what happened that night and so I never told them.

I went to go see Jonathan the next day to demand an explanation. He told me that I had said yes and was the one who instigated it. I didn't know what to believe. I knew I had been drunk but … well I just didn't know. He then revealed that he had a girlfriend, a sweet girl called Haley James. I couldn't understand what I'd done and how terrible I had been.

He then spread it around the school about how Brooke Davis had sex with everyone, and the even badder Brooke began to form, sleeping with the faceless jocks, and wishing… wishing … just wishing that someone would notice me and my pain and take it all away."

X

Lucas looked at the girl who was breaking apart in front of him. She was so vulnerable and she even shuddered when he reached out to touch her. She had been broken apart by this guy who had also broken apart Haley. Lucas needed to reach out to Brooke, to try to get her to communicate with him. Whilst going through that story it was like she wasn't even with him in the car park - she was living every single second again. Lucas sat down on the floor next to the broken girl, took her fully in his arms and let her cry. A movement from behind him made him turn around.

It was the two friends that Brooke had jumped out of the car to see that very afternoon. The two friends who Brooke had been talking about just then with so much feeling and hurt.

"Brooke." The curly haired blonde spoke, her eyes clouded with tears, streaks running down her face wear her makeup had come off.

Brooke recognised the voice straight away and she dreaded turning around, however she did it anyway. One look into her best friends eyes and she knew that she had heard everything. The secrets Brooke Davis had been keeping for so long were finally out in the open and there was nothing she could now do about it. She had been stripped bare, and now everybody could see the girl who was underneath, hiding away.

"Brooke. I am so sorry. I never knew you liked Jake. If I did I would never have told him how I felt. I am so so sorry B." Brooke looked up at her and chuckled despite the situation.

"You and Jake were meant to be Pey. There was nothing that I could have ever done about it. In any case, Jake would never have gone for the bad girl in a million years. You were his from the very beginning." Suddenly a broken voice emerged from next to Peyton.

"Brooke. I feel terrible. I am the reason you got all messed up. Believe me, I love Peyton more than I could ever love anything in this world right now, but when I was 16, the person I wanted to be with was you Brooke. The good guy really did fall for the wrong girl, or at least that's what I thought. I was thinking about you just before Peyton came to my house. I was thinking about how I was never going to get you and how I could never be happy. And then Peyton came along. I had never even noticed her in that way however I realised that for once something good could happen to me." Peyton obviously knew this story, as it didn't shock her, however the sobs now shook her body as Jake went to keep her standing up.

"He raped you Brooke. That bastard raped you and left you. And I thought it was you just wanting to go have sex with anyone. I thought that you wanted to get it over with on your 16th, straight away. But you didn't did you? You were just a baby, and I should have protected you, before you got so far away I could no longer reach you."

Brooke's tears carried on flowing but she managed to talk, Lucas' presence beside her keeping her from falling apart completely.

"Peyton don't. Please. You couldn't have done anything about it. I had to deal with it myself. I could have come and talked to you whenever I wanted but I didn't. And you two are the best couple I have ever met, it would have been disastrous if I had ever got in between you two." At this point Peyton flew to Brooke's side and covered her with a mixture of tears, kisses and love. After her, it was Jake's turn. He could finally forget the way he had lusted after one girl for so many years, yet it came to nothing. It was fate that he had ended up with Peyton, and he would never have it any other way.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Haley and Nathan made it to her house, joined together all the way, their love for each other binding them together, a bond never to be broken.

The house was simple, nothing like his own, yet it felt like home so much more than his ever had. The blue and cream walls invited him in without any grudges, unlike the house he was forced to call 'home'.

Haley led him to her bedroom, which looked like it had not been change since she had been about 16 years old. He didn't mind though. He got to look into what her life had been like before he had entered it.

There were pictures everywhere on one of the walls. From Haley as a baby with a very large family surrounding her to pictures of Peyton, Haley, Brooke and Jake.

In every one, Haley was smiling. She looked as if she had enjoyed her life to the fullest, giving back to other people as much as they had given her, if not more.

She was so full of love, he just had to get it all out of her. Gain her trust and keep it. Forever.

Always and Forever.

Haley's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Nathan, you want a drink? Oh yeah and do you want something to like sleep in, 'cos you know it can get cold here at night, unless you're like cuddling up next to me, though you might not want to of course, and um a toothbrush might be nice and um you might need uh um…" Nathan went and pressed his finger against her lips.

"Ssh Hales, you're rambling." She smiled shyly.

"Yeah I know, it's just I haven't really had a guy stay over at my house before, this one in any case, and it's quite weird, you being here." Nathan smiled.

"Well you have nothing to worry about. And by the way, yes I would like a drink and I'm not bothered about the something to sleep in, I have my boxers. And as for the toothbrush, I'll have yours." Haley scrunched up her face in disgust,

"Ewwww! Nathan! It'll have all that yucky stuff that you have in your mouth!" Nathan pretended to look hurt,

"Haley! If you kiss me then you'll get all that "yucky stuff" in your mouth." Haley pondered for a second.

"Well in that case I am never going to kiss you ever again!" Haley flounced out leaving a perplexed Nathan wondering how he was ever going to convince her that that was not a wise move. He needed to feel his lips against hers, he'd never be able to live without it.

Whilst Haley was making their drinks, her mind kept switching between the happiness that she was feeling with Nathan and the problems with her, Brooke and Jonathan. She was still thinking about it when she walked back into her room and stood in shock in thee doorway. The old whiteboard she had kept on her wall was decorated. Nathan wasn't much of an artist but the three words that he had scrawled on the board meant more to her than if he had drawn a Van Gogh painting on it.

_Always and Forever._

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Brooke had taken Lucas back to her house. Or rather he had taken her after precise instructions from Peyton and Jake. Brooke was still so distraught that she could not stand properly.

Lucas placed her on her bed and then looked around the room. He had not been in there earlier that day, but the room seemed to be completely Brooke. It was so different from the rest of the house, which was kept immaculately clean, like in a magazine. It looked as though Brooke still made sure the maids left her room alone even when she was in New York.

It was cluttered with all her things but in a nice way. The bed was huge, and Lucas wondered how many times she had been taken advantage of in it. There was also a large dressing table with a mirror and Luke wondered how many times she had cried into it, desperately wishing for someone to save her.

His eye was drawn to one wall with pictures covering it. He soon realised when it was that her parents started to leave her - after the pictures from when she was around 5, there were no pictures of her parents in them.

There were smiling pictures of all her friends, however the smile on Brooke's face always seemed to be fake. Until she left high school and Brooke's smile was genuine. The most recent ones were the ones of the road trip.

Luke chuckled at all the pictures of Nathan looking annoyed in the back seat; the two of them trying to pull the car out of a huge pile of sand; a self portrait of Brooke in her Daisy Duke outfit; old George, of course; and finally pictures of Nathan and Luke with paint all over their faces.

Luke smiled. The road trip was fun. It would have been ever better if Haley was there but she was the reason they had set out on the adventure.

It was just terrible how things had turned out since then.

Lucas looked at Brooke, sobbing silently into his shoulder. She was still so beautiful, inside and out. She could never be anything else to him. She was his forever.

Brooke could feel the warmth of Luke's shoulder through his shirt. He was the one who had kept her alive throughout all of this. Without him she had no idea what she would have done. She wouldn't be at her house in any case.

Suddenly Lucas' phone started to ring and broke the two from the trance they were in.

"Hello? What? When? Yes, I will be right there." Brooke noticed the sense of urgency in Luke's voice and definitely did not miss him edging away from her and out of her grasp.

"Luke? What's wrong? What's happened?" It looked as though he didn't really want to talk to her, but Brooke was now getting worried. Was something wrong with Nathan or Haley? Or both. She would never ever forgive herself if it had.

"It's Cesca and Billy. There's been an accident. I'm going to the hospital." Brooke stood up, shocked shaking through her whole body.

"Well I'm coming too." Lucas looked at her properly for the first time since he had received the phone call.

"No Brooke, you shouldn't, this day has been hard enough for you already." Brooke stood up, ready for an argument if it needed it.

"No Luke. You have been here for me in the time when I needed you most. You kept me standing when all I wanted to do was fall. I am coming with you. I am going to be that person for you."

Lucas didn't say anything, he just let Brooke follow him out of the door. Brooke tried to hold his hand, to show that she was going to be there for him but he pulled away.

Brooke knew that he couldn't reach out to her right then. He needed her, she needed him, he needed her to pick up the pieces like he had done to her.

Brooke just hoped that Lucas would realised that and would not pull himself away from her forever.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_End of the chapter…. What's happened to cesca?_

_I hope you liked it and that things are a little less confused. Pm me if you still are._

_Review if you liked or even if you didn't!_

_Hannie_

_xxx_


	16. Just Her

Thanks for all your reviews last chapter… I didn't know if it would be too much drama or whatever, but I have been planning this from very early on in the story.

Oh and thank you so much to the people that have been reviewing for ages, even when I update in like once every blue moon lol. However that does not mean I do not appreciate the people who have just found my story and are taking the time to review, cos I love you lot soososo much as well.

Yeah and we are nearing the end of my story I think, definitely less than 5 chapters, it could be just a couple, it depends.

If you're mad about this, I'm sorry, but even though this story has only 15 chapters so far, I used to never update and so it has been a long time since I started. I'd like to then start my Singing Her Last Song again, which is testing out the two couples Brucas and Brathan together and maybe start some new stuff. So read them when they come out! Though of course I havent yet finished this story sp please keep reading!!

Thanks for reviews once again… and of course, enjoy!

XXX

Chapter 16 - Just Her

The colours were cold, so cold, yet they were nowhere near as freezing as what he felt inside of himself at that very moment. It was as though he was fading, fading so fast that soon there would be nothing left of him.

He rushed through the emergency ward, not noticing the many people around him who were bleeding, the unconscious patients that surrounded him. All he could think of was reaching Cesca.

He suddenly found himself outside the emergency room, the place where most people die if you watch the hospital programmes on t.v. Cesca used to love those programmes, he had no idea why. Even throughout their whirlwind romance, she still found the time to watch these programmes where people die. Luke could never make sense of it.

It was irony that the place Cesca used to stare at, eyes glazing over was now the place which was going to decide her fate.

As he was looking through the doors, it appeared to Luke that Francesca was completely covered in tubes. She was surrounded by doctors and nurses, all looking frantic, whilst the few glimpses he saw of her made her look more serene than she had ever been during life.

She was always bouncing round, the curls in her hair framing her face, and they still did now. However now this happy scene he was remembering was tormented by the blood that he saw which matted her hair.

The constant beeping that had been reverberating through his mind was soon replaced by a harsh, low, constant sound. It never changed pitch, it just went on and on and on.

From what he could remember from the shows, this was not a good sign.

Cesca's body jerked into the air from the electric shocks which had just been sent straight into her. Luke's ears strained for a different sound coming from the machine in the corner.

After two more attempts, the machine still taunted him with that sound.

Francesca's heart had stopped beating.

xxx

Brooke looked up at Lucas; his body started to shake and she could see the tears which poured down his cheeks.

Brooke did the only thing that she could think of doing. She reached up to him and brought his head down to hers. She held him, worried that if she let go, he'd fall and break into a million pieces.

He had been there for her earlier that evening, and now she was going to do the same. She had to be there for him. Even if he hadn't saved her before, she would still be doing the exact same thing that she was doing now.

Because she loved him. Lucas Scott had her heart, and she was pretty sure that she had his.

The two were interrupted by a kind woman's voice.

"Excuse me, are you here for Francesca Civourciani?" Lucas pulled himself away from Brooke and nodded, just before seeing this woman holding his son. He reached out yet the little boy shied away.

Brooke's heart broke for the young son and his father. They didn't even know each other yet they were going to be together for the rest of their lives. Whether they wanted to or not, they had been pushed together, and would have to live with the grief that they felt. The young boy did not know this yet of course, but he would one day and Brooke could tell from Luke's eyes that he was thinking the exact same thing.

He had wanted to be there for his son when Cesca left him, his heart hurt for the boy he had lost. He had a father who wasn't always the best for him and his brother, but he was there. And he didn't want Billy to grow up without one. But now he would grow up without a mother. And Lucas didn't know if he could look after such a precious object by himself.

The young boy soon became restless in his father's arms, and heart-wrenchingly pointed into the room which had torn his world apart.

"Mommy!" Lucas cried. He had not noticed the tears before, however now they were flowing faster than ever. His son had seen an image of his dead mother. Though he was so young, Luke had no idea whether this image would stick in his head for the rest of his life.

Brooke took Billy away from his father, she could see that he just needed to pull himself together before he could think of doing anything else.

He needed to say goodbye, however Brooke was not sure if he was going to be able to do that yet.

She slowly wandered away, soothing Billy in her arms. She never knew anything about babies, and she never thought that she would have to know when she was younger. She thought that she would do the exact same thing as her parents did. Hell, she thought that that was what every parent did to their children; left them with their nannies whilst they went on big expensive holidays. That was what hurt the most when she became friends with Peyton. Brooke found out for the first time what it was like to have a real family, and though the Sawyer family welcomed her with open arms, she knew that she was not a real part of the family.

Her family just didn't want her.

As she became older, she vowed that she was going to be a better mother than her parents had been, yet this part of her had been buried inside, the lowest layer out of all that she had built up around herself. Underneath all the crap that everyone else saw.

But now. Now was her chance to show to everybody that she could be a good mother. She wouldn't want to replace Francesca as Billy's mother, yet she could fulfil the role that Francesca was supposed to take.

She couldn't let Billy, the gorgeous little boy in her arms not have the best life tat he could possibly have, even after the tragedy that he was experiencing at such an early age.

She would be there for Billy and for Lucas. She'd be there to watch Billy play basketball, or football, or soccer. Whatever he wanted to do. She'd be there. She'd messed up enough times in her own life to know that she had to do the best that she could for this little boy.

Brooke walked up to the telephone. She knew Haley wouldn't want to talk to her, yet she also knew that both Haley and Nathan would want to be at the hospital for Lucas.

At this point she forgot all about how hurt she would be if Haley did in fact blank her once she entered the hospital, all she could think of was how they needed to help Lucas.

If they all weren't careful, they could completely lose Lucas forever. Not the whole of his body, but the Luke that lies inside. He could die in this hospital, and his fate would be worse than Cesca's. Because he'd have to live with it.

The numbers came to her easily, she had dialled Haley's number so many times that now she didn't even have to think about it.

But then it struck her. What if Haley didn't want to pick up the phone and left it?

What if it was her actions from the past which made two of the people closest to Lucas not be there when he needed them?

Brooke's heart raced as she heard the ring through the phone repeat again and again.

It was on the tenth ring that a voice answered. But it wasn't Haley.

"Nathan?" Brooke guessed that Haley had forced him to answer, knowing that it was her. It hurt, but at least somebody had answered the phone. For the first time in the hospital, Brooke broke down in tears. The sobs shook her shoulders so hard that she nearly dropped both Billy and the phone.

"Brooke? What's wrong? Tell me, what's happened?" Brooke knew it was unfair to keep Nathan waiting for the answer however she just couldn't form the words.

That would make it all too real. And Brooke Davis could never deal with things that were real. Brooke had never liked Cesca, that was true, however it was because she could see the way that Luke still looked at her. Even though he was annoyed at Cesca for leaving him, she could still see the love that was in his eyes. And that hurt her more than anything else ever could. But still, Brooke didn't want anything to happen to Cesca. She was like her in a way. They were both feisty… and…

"Brooke, tell me what has happened." This shook Broke back into the present.

"N-n-nate… I… uh … am - we - we… hospital… Lucas… Cesca… die….." Nathan only made out the words hospital, Lucas and die. With those three words firmly planted into his mind, Nathan was already out of the door and heading to the car.

"Lucas is at the hospital? Oh god Brooke, you really need to tell me what has happened." Brooke shook her head madly, for a second not realising that he couldn't see her.

"No no no, Nathan, it's Cesca. Cesca's dead." The line went dead and Brooke collapsed onto the seat beside her. Never had a phone conversation exhausted her so much, and she had once been involved in a three way conversation with Haley and Peyton one night which had lasted for four hours.

Minutes passed silently, Billy soon becoming accustomed to being in Brooke's arms. She was glad. At least he couldn't feel the pain that was being emitted from the room.

There were people crying everywhere. Some were bleeding, some had scars covering their bodies. Some were just like her, crying for the loss of somebody else.

Everybody in the room was hurting in some way, and when put together that hurt was simply magnified.

The screams and shouts merged into the tears and cries of others, the sound would not cease.

And there was nothing that Brooke could do. Billy was looking round bewilderingly at the people, probably wondering how so much noise could be coming from just one place.

Yet he still didn't realise why all the people were making so much noise. He probably didn't know that these were not shouts like that at a birthday part, but were filled with grief, with anger, with pain.

And Brooke was in the middle of it all, the pain being absorbed into her skin, suffocating her until she could hardly breathe.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lucas looked at the beauty which had been taken from the world. Beautiful was an understatement. Her golden skin which usually reflected the sun was now trying in vain to radiate the same colour from the lights in the room, yet the greyish tinge appearing on her surface slowly began to spread.

And like the first time she had left him, there was nothing that he could do. He'd tried to call after her, scream at her, but he knew that in reality nothing would work. She was not coming back. And this just set the guilt in motion that was now consuming his every fibre of being. Was Cesca the love of his life? Judging by the pain he was feeling at that very moment, he could say that yes, she was. She was the one who had first caught his eye, had shown him how to feel, how to love. She had been the one who had given him the most precious gift that anyone could give. New life. A son. A son who was going to grow up to be happy, Lucas was sure that that was going to happen. He would not rest at night if his son was happy.

His son was now everything to him.

Lucas looked down at the fingers that he was so desperately clinging on to. He had wanted one of those fingers to be clad in a beautiful ring, yet when he had announced this to her, she had laughed it off, declined. Lucas closed his eyes with the sheer pain of what he was feeling. Maybe… just maybe if she had said yes, then he would have been able to protect her, they would be a family right now, either watching one of Billy's favourite shows, maybe the Tweenies, a favourite of his when he had grown up in England. Or they could have been watching ER, and he wouldn't be sitting at the side of one of the dead, he'd have just been trying not to watch.

Nothing would or could ever be okay again. Too much had happened. She was never coming back. If he had one wish right now it would be for her to come back. And if he needed to bargain, he would have gladly given up himself if she could come back to walk the Earth. She was needed more than him. He wanted so badly to look after Billy, but he didn't know how. Cesca knew, and that was why she needed to be back. She needed to look after his son, their son. Because Billy needed the best life he could possibly get.

A straight faced nurse told Luke that he needed to leave. Leave the love of his life. The last time that he would ever get to see her. Those curls, those eyes, those lips.

Just her.

He'd miss her.

Luke stood to the side as they covered up his beauty and wheeled her away. Down to the mortuary. He had never been to one, however he had heard that they were cold. He was not sure if they would be as cold as he was at that very second.

He had never known what it was like to lose somebody that you loved. He had heard about it before, had seen people outside churches, all dressed in black, the ladies crying, the men sombre. But he had never imagined that it would happen to him.

He had always thought that he was invincible. Nothing could ruin the perfect life that he had. But something had come and wrecked it far more than he ever expected.

Lucas soon realised that he was no longer alone in the room. The beautiful brunette that he had recently come to love was standing there holding his child.

She looked so perfect, so calm. But how could she be calm? Cesca was gone.

And how could she hold his son, his and Cesca's son without feeling any guilt. Billy wasn't hers. Now, Billy only had him. And that was because of her. She was the reason that Cesca had gone.

If Brooke wasn't there, he'd never have left her whilst he went on some stupid road trip; if he hadn't been with Brooke then he would have talked to Cesca rather than telling her to go away.

This was all down to Brooke, and then she had the nerve to go and stand by his side, holding his son?

Lucas took Brooke off guard and grabbed Billy away from her.

"Be careful baby, don't hurt him!" Lucas scowled at her.

"How would you know how to look after my son? How can you dare to come and take my child away from me whilst I am mourning the woman I love in this place. It's just him and me right now. Us against the world. So can you please keep away from him… and from me. Because right now I am thinking that if you had never been here then I would never have lost Cesca and I would not be in the situation that I am in right now." Brooke started to speak yet her voice faltered, how could he say all this to her when all she wanted was to be there for him? She was prepared just to let everything go and be there for him and Billy. But he couldn't see that. How could he not see that?

"Luke. I am trying my goddamn hardest just to be here for you. I know you are hurting right now, so, so bad. Let me help you out with this, okay? Don't shut me out. I've given you my heart Luke, so can you please give me yours back?" Brooke had now choked up and the tears were starting to fall. She had given him her all, but she knew that he wasn't giving his all back. She knew what it was like, Peyton was exactly the same. But she needed him to need her. She needed him to want her, to love her.

But Lucas looked straight past her. It was as though he did not even see her. The woman he said that he loved only the night before. And now she seemed to be gone. Out of his heart, out of his mind…

Lucas walked past her holding his son in his arms. He didn't even spare her glance. He left her, in a room that was so cold, so full of grief. Of death.

Surrounding her were the machines which tried to save peoples' lives. The machines which so often failed. And there was nothing that she or anyone else could do about it.

She was alone in the room. He'd left her standing so cold and alone, it was only her.

Just her.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So there is another chapter.

And don't hate Lucas… think about it, his first love is dead, he's going to be confused right now and he won't be able to think straight. So yeah…

So I want to know what you think about this! So review please, love you all!

xxx


	17. Goodbye

Thankyou sooo much for all the reviews last chapter! They were so encouraging and now my review count is over 100! I really never expected that when I started this fic so thanks !!!!!!

And I know you're all mad at Lucas, goddamit so am I! But it will get resolved, I think id cry if they didn't get together in this, and seen as im writing this… well, you get the picture.

So here we go….enjoy!!! OH yeah, flashbacks in italics…

XXX

Chapter 17 - Goodbye

The day had come. The day he hadn't expected to come so soon in his life. The cold morning air stabbed straight through his suit jacket and shirt, however he didn't feel anything. He was completely numb inside and out. He didn't know if anything would ever change that.

The last few days had gone by in a blur, everybody asking him questions of how he wanted the funeral to be, but how could he know? Cesca had only just come back into his life after so long, how was he supposed to know what she wanted to have for her funeral? It never really came up in their conversations.

Nathan and Haley had been great throughout it all when he had been about to break. Nathan had sorted out all the arrangements for the funeral and Haley had been looking after Billy. Haley was supposedly good with kids, and yeah, she was good with Billy, but she just couldn't quieten him down or make him smile as much as Brooke could.

There was her name again. It had been running through his mind since the hospital, since he had walked out on her. He regretted it of course, but he had to be faithful to Cesca. How could he have carried on a relationship with Brooke whilst Cesca was back? He should have given more attention to her, and then maybe she wouldn't be… gone. And so that made the part of him blame Brooke for what had happened.

He remembered the last few days, the phone calls and text messages she had been sending, begging for forgiveness, for whatever she had done wrong. Her willingness to declare she was wrong touched him so deeply it hurt, but he just couldn't let her in… not until he could get over Cesca. A very large part of him desperately wanted Brooke to carry on trying to contact him though; it made him realise that somebody out there in the world still wanted him, still needed him.

But one day the phone calls stopped. All because of one scarily final conversation.

_It had been the same as every other day since the accident. Accident. It seemed such a trivial word. As though nothing bad could come of it. Because it was just an accident, nothing more. However the "accident" was the thing that had ripped out his heart and tore it into thousands of tiny pieces._

_Each day that Lucas awoke, he found a text message from Brooke, telling him good morning, each time ending with the words "I love you". Lucas never replied although he had to admit that her words meant more than anything to him._

_Stepping out of bed and checking his main phone, he would also find a voice message telling him to get out of bed quick as it was a wonderful morning outside. It really depended on what you called lovely: the sun shone as brightly as in summer, however the change in seasons was obvious as soon as you stepped outside and the cold air hit your cheeks and made them bright pink within minutes. He knew that Brooke loved this weather, it was the perfect excuse for her to wear her newly bought clothes for the winter season._

_These two reminders of Brooke being there kept him going throughout each and every day. Then there were the two messages he received in the evening, basically telling him the same thing, however now she was wishing him a good night._

_That evening was different. He didn't get the messages from her. He was beginning to get worried about her; this was getting to be a pattern, what did it mean if she missed it? Was it that she had forgotten? Or had something happened to her. _

_These worries were interrupted by a knock on the door. Straight away, he knew who it was. And he didn't know whether he'd be able to open it. To face her. Because he knew that if he saw her, all he'd want to do would be to enclose her in his arms and keep her there forever. But he couldn't do that, could he?_

_Behind the door was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her brown hair framed her face which was now glowing from the cold and her brown eyes sparkled brightly, contradicting her smile which was apprehensive._

"_Hey broody." The nickname brought back memories. Painful memories - not because they were bad, but because they were so good, and it reminded him of what he had lost._

"_Hi." His voice came out gruffer than he, and she, had expected it to. But it held all the anguish that they had both felt in the last few days._

"_Look Lucas. I just need to say this to you. I love you, I don't know why but I do. Maybe it's because of that little thing you do when you smile, maybe it's because of the way I feel you can see right into my soul with just one look, maybe it's just because I am standing here giving you this speech in the freezing cold, yet I am not feeling any of it. I am just feeling you. Now I know that you have had a really hard time over the past few days, and I am not saying that you have handled it badly, it's just that I think that I can be here for you. I can make it better for you. I love you Lucas, and I think that you love me too. So please Luke, please just let me in." Her face twisted in pain as she realised that this was it. If he didn't take her back now then he never would. It was now or never. If it wasn't now then he would never want her, and she would just have to try and be strong and walk away._

"_Brooke I think I love you. But I can't. So please, please don't make this harder than it is already and just walk away. Please." The tears were now falling freely down her face. It brought tears to his eyes just thinking about it. But there was no way that they could be together right then, his heart was trying to mend from the loss of another._

"_Lucas, can you even hear yourself?! You say you love me! Well I love you too, so can you not make it harder than it already is please and just let me in. I know you don't like asking for help, neither do I, but I am here, just take my hand and come with me. We love each other Lucas, that's all we need." Lucas shook his head, he didn't want to, but it was the only way to protect himself._

"_No Brooke, sometimes love isn't enough." Brooke choked on her own tears, shocked at the words which had just come out of his mouth, "I'm sorry Brooke, so sorry, I never wanted to hurt you." She looked at him disbelievingly,_

"_Funny that, 'cos in the end it all hurts just the same."_

Brooke had walked away after that, leaving him alone. Since then, there had been no phone calls, no messages, no nothing. She was gone. He had pushed her away and now she was gone. He was hurt that she hadn't tried harder; maybe she really didn't love him at all.

Lucas looked to the side of him, where the fair haired girl stood sombre. She had never known Cesca, however she was still here, right by his side. What he didn't know however was that instead of thinking about the loss of Cesca, she was thinking about another friend. A friend who was so important to her. A friend who she had made amends with.

A friend who had been hurt more than she ever would.

"_Brooke, Brooke, is Cesca alright, what's happened?" Nathan rushed up to the brunette carrying the little boy. They looked so perfect together, however the situation which had brought them together was so terrible._

_Haley knew by the look on Brooke's face that something terrible had happened._

"_Nate, I'm so sorry, Cesca's dead." Nathan's face turned ashen. Cesca had not been around for a long time, yet the time that she had spent with their family he could remember perfectly._

_Haley had a vague idea of who Cesca was, but she didn't really know her, so this only shocked her as the death of a person, not the loss of someone she loved or cared for. She knew it was selfish but the main thing she was thinking about was the wedge which had been driven between her and Brooke, and what exactly she was going to do about it. She knew that she had to hear Brooke's side of the story; it's just she didn't know whether she could sit through Brooke telling her all about it. She still didn't want to believe it. Haley had zoned out and not listened to the remainder of the conversation between Nathan and Brooke. When she felt herself float back into the room, Nathan and Billy had gone. It was just her and Brooke in the room right then and she knew that the subject would come up sooner or later._

_And Haley betted on the sooner._

"_Look Haley, I am so sorry about what I did, and I know that it shouldn't have happened… I know I should have pushed him off me, I know, but I was so out of it, in more ways than one, but mainly with the alcohol and I really couldn't do anything about it when he started to take off my panties, I mean, I tried to scream, but I should have done more… I'm so sorry Haley, I should have done more…" Haley looked disbelievingly at Brooke._

"_What do you mean, scream?" Haley couldn't not notice the pain that she could see in Brooke's eyes. And this wasn't just pain for Haley, it went so much deeper; there was something that Brooke had never told her, a secret that was about to come out._

"_Look Haley, I know you may not believe what I am about to say, I don't think that I would believe me… but I was a virgin before that night, and I really didn't want what happened to happen…" Brooke was lost for words, she really didn't know whether she could say the words that she needed to say to make everything clear, to make everything better again._

"_Brooke, did he rape you?" There was silence. A silence that neither Haley nor Brooke wanted to fill. Because they both knew the answer. They both knew the answer it was just they couldn't bear to say the word. 'Yes'. It was such a simple word, however at this moment in time it was the hardest thing in the world to actually say. "Brooke, please tell me, did he rape you?" Haley's eyes were now filled with tears, "Brooke? Brooke just answer -"_

"_I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T… I JUST DON'T KNOW!" Haley looked at the broken girl who was standing in front of her. She had been through so much in her short life, yet Haley didn't know anything about it. She was supposed to be her best friend yet they had this huge wedge between them. Haley didn't blame Brooke, how do you bring that sort of thing up in conversation? But it still hurt her to know that her best friend had been carrying this around with her for however many years. And it had all started because of Haley's boyfriend…_

_Haley went up and held the girl who had broken down in front of her, her frail body needing to be held in the midst of all the chaos and pain which was engulfing them: would it ever let go? Haley didn't know, but what she did know was that she was going to try and make all the people around her hurt that little bit less. However it was that she did that._

"_Brooke look at me, no no don't avoid my eyes, I need you to hear me say this. You did nothing wrong. Nothing, do you hear me? I am sorry that I ever doubted you in the first place, but I never expected something this bad to happen. I want you to know that none of this was you fault and that I love you and will be here for you. I am so sorry that I wasn't there to protect you when this all happened. But I promise you that I will be here now." Brooke nodded and tried to smile through her tears just as Nathan returned with Billy in his arms holding some sweets or something._

"_Heya baby! Not you Nathan, my baby Billy," Nathan feigned shock as he handed the small child over to her. Haley looked at the two of them. They honestly looked like mother and son; and she honestly did not mean any disrespect to Cesca when she was saying that. It was just that if Billy had any step mom, then Brooke would be the only one perfect for the job. "Okay then Billy, let's go find your daddy and we'll leave Uncle Nathan and Auntie Haley to make some babies of their own 'kay?"_

_Haley gasped and then laughed, how did Brooke realise that things were going so good between her and Nathan. Brooke winked at her and then turned and walked down the corridor to where Lucas was saying goodbye for the last time._

Haley realised that this conversation had not gone as well as she had hoped. Both Nathan and her had noticed the tension in Lucas, not to mention the fact that Brooke had not been in contact with Lucas or Billy for the last few days, to her knowledge.

Nathan was stood beside her. Her Nathan. It seemed selfish, but whilst everything had been going so wrong for every other couple in the world it seemed, theirs was going from strength to strength. And he knew it too.

Nathan turned to face the woman that he loved. He really did love her. The last few days had shown him that. But the main thing that had shocked him into declaring his feelings for her again was the fear he felt at what it would be like to lose the person he cared most deeply for in the whole world.

"_Nathan? What is it? What's wrong? Is Lucas in the hospital?" Nathan had rushed out of the door and into his car, Haley hot on his heels._

"_Uh no, it's Cesca, there's been an accident."_

"_Oh god Nathan, she's not…" Nathan couldn't bear to think about it, she couldn't be, could she?_

"_I honestly don't know what Lucas will do if she is… I know he has Brooke now, and I hope that she will be able to help him through it, it's just that Luke hates asking for help, and losing Cesca and having Billy forced upon him might just send him over the edge. And that is something that I just can't bear thinking about. I know what he was like when Cesca left him the first time. But this, this wasn't even her choice to go. This is just cruel." Haley and Nathan were both silent. Apart from there was one question which was burning in the back of Haley's mind. Nathan could tell she was wondering something and so prompted her,_

"_What was Luke like when Cesca left him the first time? It's just that I really need to know, because I can't bear to think what it would do to Brooke. I mean, we're not exactly talking at the moment so what will happen if the one person she has simply turns away? I don't know whether she will be able to cope with that. So come on, tell me." Nathan looked at her and then away again. He knew exactly how to explain it to her, he just wasn't sure what she was going to say about it._

"_He will act the way I acted when you left me."_

_The silence was even worse this time. She knew that he had to say it, to get it out of him, but it hurt her to know how much she hurt him._

"_Look Nathan, I am so sorry that I did that, it was just I was so scared with all of the Jonathan thing, and now you know what a bad guy he actually is - I know it's not a good excuse but it's the only one that I have."_

"_I know Haley. And I forgive you, I forgave you a long time ago. But you did hurt me, more than you'll ever know, and that's the reason that I don't want anything like that to happen again. I love you Haley James, and this time, please don't jump out of the car." Haley giggled nervously. This was the moment of truth. She had to say it, she couldn't just keep running from it._

"_I love you too Nathan Scott." He smiled, the biggest smile ever probably, she had just made him the happiest man in the whole of Tree Hill. But then an idea struck him, an idea which would make him the happiest man in the whole world._

"_I know Hales, and I want to be able to tell you that every morning that I wake up and every night before I go to sleep. What I'm meaning is, Haley James, will you marry me?"_

_Haley looked at him and a nervousness he had never felt before spread throughout the entirety of his body. He hadn't expected to say it, he never thought that he wanted to get married, but he was scared about if he would ever lose her like Luke was in danger of losing Cesca. And so he'd said it, no ring, no getting down on one knee… it was just out there._

_He loved Haley, he knew it and he thought that she knew it. He wanted to be there forever, for her and for them; when she had a problem he wanted it to be him that she came to for help. They didn't need a piece of paper to prove it, yet he knew what he wanted to do was the right thing for them._

_Them. If she said yes, it was never going to be just him ever again. They would merge into-_

"_Yes." It took a while for Nathan to register why she had said the word, yet when it did the beam on his face matched hers exactly, "Look Nathan I know we need to talk-"Nathan quietened her,_

"_Yeah, of course we need to talk, about everything, about our past, our present and our future," He grinned at her, that was cheesy, yet the repetition of the word 'our' just felt so right, "But right now we need to be there for Lucas, Cesca, Billy and even Brooke, whatever happens." Haley simply nodded._

_The rest of the journey was made in silence. Neither of them could believe the huge step forward they had taken in their relationship in such a short space of time. But Nathan knew that he could never live without Haley in his life, and he needed to protect her._

The coffin sank down into the ground below, the mahogany coffin never to be seen again. Inside it was Cesca, the vibrant girl who was also being swallowed into the darkness.

Lucas was stood at the front with his parents, the space for Cesca's parents empty. They both lived in Italy, and Luke knew that he had to tell them sometime, but it would not make any difference if it was a time when Luke could bear to say the words. He needed to tell them whilst being strong, not breaking down over the phone. Cesca had not been in touch with them for over 10 years, but Lucas knew that as her parents, they needed to know.

The last glimpse of the coffin disappeared, and Lucas knew that this would be his last ever sight of Cesca. He couldn't help it - he was scared of the future. He was afraid of the past. Most of all he was terrified of the present. He had no idea what he was going to do and how he was going act. He knew he had to be strong for his son, but he honestly didn't know how.

The people in the churchyard started to filter out slowly, until he, Nathan and Haley were the only ones left. Haley reached out and held him, she knew that even the best of them needed to break down sometime.

Nathan noticed a policeman standing at the side about 10 metres away. It was obvious that he was waiting for one of them, however he was hovering, wondering whether it was ok for him to step forward.

Nathan slowly walked towards him. Whatever this policeman was going to say, he knew it was not going to be good. Why else would he have turned up to a funeral and have such a sombre look on his face?

Nathan gingerly approached the man. He didn't seem unfriendly, but Nathan could tell that the harshness of his job had taken its toll on the man. His face was unreadable, apart from that one hint of sadness. Nathan did not know whether this was what he looked constantly or whether this was just a special occasion.

"Sir, are you looking for me?" The officer seemed to be broken out of his trance and for the first time saw the young man in front of him,

"Are you a Mr Lucas Scott?" Nathan shook his head,

"No but my brother is over there. If there's anything you need to say to him will you please say it to me because as you can see," Nathan gestured over to where the two people were standing, "He is not in a good way at the moment." The police officer looked confused for a minute, wondering whether he should indeed tell this man what he had been sent to say. In the end he decided that he would, he did not want to make it worse for Lucas Scott and he knew how bad people could get when they heard this sort of news. He had also heard that the couple had a son, who was in the car at the time; this would make things much harder for anyone to take.

"Uh, yes, I guess I could tell you. Um, well the thing is…"

XXX

Lucas realised that he had been standing in Haley's arms for a long time. He had not noticed that everybody had left, and he felt bad for not saying goodbye. But then he remembered, there was the reception straight after, they would all be gathering at his house. He didn't know whether he could face it anymore, things were getting too much for him to bear. One minute he was full of anger and the next he was full of sorrow. He didn't know where he was although he did know that this confusion could not be healthy for him or his little boy.

He pulled away from Haley just as Nathan returned, from where he didn't know. The look on his face was… well Lucas didn't know. He couldn't read it. But Lucas knew that Nathan had something to tell him and he knew that it could not be good.

"Luke…" Lucas looked at his younger brother, something was troubling him and he could tell.

"Nate, please, just tell me whatever it is," Nathan looked up at his brother's face. He didn't know what it would look like once he had broken this most recent piece of news.

"Look Luke, I don't know how to say this but.. Cesca's accident, well, it wasn't an accident," Luke's eyes widened and he started to argue back,

"Whoever the son of a bitch is I am going to kill him. Who is it Nathan? Tell me -" Nathan shook his head sadly.

"No Lucas that's not what I mean. Cesca's accident - the police think that she did it to herself," The anger in Luke now bubbled over the top,

"NO! Nathan how can you say this to me? Cesca wouldn't do that?! She could never do that? She had a life! A SON! No, you're lying to me, how could you know?" Nathan looked sadly at his brother. This was going to ruin him even more. Haley was stood at the side of them silently weeping. She knew what Nathan meant, even if his brother couldn't accept it. All Nathan wanted to do was to go and comfort his fiancée, but he needed to get this finished. Once and for all. It needed to be over.

"Luke, there were no brake marks in the place where she crashed. If she had been swerving to avoid something, she would have… she'd have braked when she saw the tree. But she didn't Luke. In fact, they think that she accelerated." Lucas' body began to shake. This could not be happening, why would Cesca do something like that? She had a son. She couldn't just take away her life and endanger their son's life just like that. Why would she do it?

And then something struck Luke. He had been blaming the wrong girl. The girl who had taken her own life so selfishly he had been treating like an angel. Yet the real innocent party in all this he had treated like, well… nothing.

"I have to go. I have to go find…" Haley cut him off, she knew what he was about to say,

"I know where she is."

XXX

Okay so there you go, hope you enjoyed.

Next chapter is the last one, so lots of reviews please?!

xxx


	18. Tears and Snowfights

Thanks for reviews last chapterr…. This is the finale! Hope you enjoy, another authors note at the end…..

Oh yeah I realise I never did a disclaimer so here you go: I do not and will never own any of the characters of One Tree Hill or its storylines.

So for the last time… ENJOY!

XXX

Chapter 18- Tears and Snowfights

She was sat there alone. You'd have thought that she would have a lot of things running through her head but in fact she didn't. Everything was blank. She didn't take in any of her surroundings and she didn't think about the last time she had been there.

If she did it would have been just too painful. If she thought of anything then it would be too painful. So that's why she didn't. She just sat there and… well, sat.

She _tried _not to think about it, for so long she had sat there and just tried to block everything out. But she knew that she couldn't. She had to try and figure out where it had all gone so wrong.

Maybe that was a stupid question. It had all started with the accident. But shouldn't the two of them have gotten through it, together? Did all this just mean that the love she had thought she felt for him wasn't actually real?

No, Brooke decided. What she was feeling right now was very much real. The numbness she was feeling right now was due to the freezing cold and also the pain that she had been feeling before. She had hurt so much over the past few days that now it seemed that she couldn't hurt anymore. She had tried to get through to him so many times. But each moment he just pushed her that little bit further away. Until she was on the edge, contemplating what to do now.

That was where she was now. On the edge of the abyss, looking down warily, wondering how much it would hurt if she just jumped. Would it be quick and painless? Basically, would it hurt less than if she tried to walk back the way she had come, trying to make her way home.

But that was the problem now. Had his heart ever been hers? Or had she just been the second hand replacement for the love he always held the closest to his heart? Had everything they shared just been a lie?

When he had told her to go for the final time, she knew it had been the end. It had to be. She couldn't keep clinging on to someone that wasn't hers. He had made his choice, and she would just have to live with it. But living wasn't really what she would call it, right now it just seemed that she was existing. She had no purpose anymore, no-one to wake up for. She just did it now out of routine. She couldn't stop everything for just some guy she said to herself. But the problem was, he wasn't just some guy.

He was Lucas.

The guy she had imagined spending every day with for the rest of their lives. When even her hair had gone grey, she could imagine them both sitting on rocking chairs outside their house, him telling her how beautiful she still looked and really meaning it. And of course, she would be reading Vogue still, unless they had made another one for golden oldies. And he would be reading some old book, which he probably would have read thousands of times before. But he would read it because he wanted to, and he would read out sections to her and they would laugh and smile to each other. He would call her his Cheery and she would reply back 'I love you too Broody'. Their thousands of grandkids and great grandkids would then run up to them and ask them to play with them. But now they were getting too old. Too old to play basketball, too old to play dress-up. But still, it would be Broody and Cheery against the world.

She had had this all planned out in her head, but then destiny came and grabbed it away from her without a second glance. Brooke Davis would never get her happy ending.

Ever since she was a little girl, people had always thought of her as a Princess, waltzing around her big house, the most popular girl in the school, however they didn't see what was going on behind the closed doors. At home she felt like Rapunzal, trapped in her tower, isolated from the outside world. She had Haley, Jake and Peyton who were there to help her through it all but they could never fully understand.

It all came down to one thing. They had a family. A family who loved them for who they were and would worry if they were out too late or were upset when they didn't get good marks in a test. They would complain about it, probably to try and make Brooke feel better about it, but it never worked.

All Brooke could think about was how she wished that someone would care about her as much as they did. She didn't mind if someone wrapped her up in cotton wool and never let her go out to parties. All she wanted was for someone to love her.

And she thought she had that with Lucas. He didn't leave her when he found out things about her; for this reason she thought he loved her. She finally thought that she had found somebody to love her who she could love back. She finally thought that she had found somebody who would never let go. But that wasn't the case.

"Why couldn't he just love me back?" Brooke spoke aloud to herself. She was finally fed up. Of everything. Of the way that Peyton and Jake had had their happy ending since they were so young; the way that Nathan chased after Haley when she had left him. Why couldn't anybody chase after her? When she had been physically forced out of Lucas' life, he never came to his senses. She never got anybody to come running after her.

And so she finally needed to accept that. Lucas was running after Cesca and she was running after Lucas - but nobody was running after her.

"I do love you Brooke Davis." Brooke wanted to scream, but she knew if she did that, she'd laugh, and this was a time when she really didn't want to laugh. Brooke turned around, the tears evident in her eyes, her eyes red from the crying she had been doing. Lucas took all of this in, he finally saw how much he had hurt her.

She looked at him, really looked at him, and wondered why he was there. She was about to say something when he brought his hand up to her cheek and caressed it slowly, the action bringing Brooke to close her eyes, the tears slowly seeping down her cheeks and onto his hands. He slowly brought his other thumb to her eyes to wipe these tears. He couldn't stand to see her cry. Lucas tried to look into her eyes but she wouldn't look straight at him when he was looking at her. He slowly guided her face to look at his.

"I am so so sorry for how much I have hurt you Brooke." His voice caught in his throat, her usually sparkly hazel eyes were dark and blank. All the speckles of green had gone and the usual light brown colour was now almost black.

"You keep saying that Luke, but you know what? You hurt me more than you'll ever know, and so much more than I'll ever show. Luke, why are you here?"

They both sat in silence, neither of them knowing what to say. Only a week before, he had told her he loved her for the first time, and it had felt like everything was going so right, but now the world had crumbled around him leaving him and the people he cared about most stuck in the wreckage.

"The accident wasn't an accident. I found out today. I am so sorry but before then, I blamed everything on you. I just thought that if I hadn't been with you, then Cesca may still be alive. But I just don't get it. Why would she kill herself? She had so much to live for. Why would she do it?" The tears now trailed down Lucas' cheek. He didn't expect an answer from Brooke but he got one anyway.

"She was jealous. You were with me yet she had your son. She wanted you to spend time with him and her. But you didn't, you kept coming back to me. So she decided that she would try one last time to get you to see her. She came to Tree Hill and phoned you, but once again you were preoccupied with me. It was the final straw. You didn't want to see her or your son. She needed to do something which would make you realise how much you needed the both of them. She was driving back to New York, she wasn't looking where she was going; she saw that she was heading for a tree and thought, if I just speed up now…. There was no time to think. She never wanted to kill herself. She just wanted to be needed for a little while." Lucas looked at her. None of it made sense, yet it all did.

"How? How would you know that?" Brooke shrugged,

"Girl's minds work in the same way Luke." He chuckled at her but she just kept looking out into the distance through the snow laden trees, a sad smile on her face.

"Brooke I love you so much my heart is aching right now. You're such an amazing person. You could be bitter at Cesca now, you have the right to be, yet you're not. You're taking it all so well, but please, why can't you just tell me how you-" Brooke's head sharply spun around,

"Feel? You want me to tell you how I'm feeling right now? Okay, I will. I don't understand why you came back. You told me you loved me and I tried to be there for you at the hospital, but you just threw it back in my face. Your eyes were so bitter Luke, and it was bitterness towards me. I thought that I'd leave you for a day or two, wait for you to call and say you were sorry. But you never did. I called you every morning and every evening. I _told_ you how much I loved you, I tried to keep it together whilst the message was playing yet when I put down the phone, each time I broke down, I couldn't hold it in any longer. Haley convinced me to try to speak to you one last time, face to face. I didn't want to go, but she said that it was for the best. So I did. I told you exactly what I wanted, and you told me you loved me back. I thought that everything was going to be okay again. But I hadn't noticed the harshness of your eyes at that very moment. The usual cool blue had turned stormy, and I knew that it was all because of me. If I hadn't been around then the woman that you really loved wouldn't be dead. I loved you, so I walked away. I knew that you wouldn't be able to get over her, and so the easiest thing for all of us was to just walk away. And so now I feel like I am on the edge of a cliff, one wrong move and I'll fall deep down into the depths below. And there's only one person who I know can save me. But I know in my heart, and my head that he can't. So I'm waiting, I'm waiting for when the wind just picks up slightly, or I lose my balance so that I fall. And right now I'm thinking that it can't be such a bad thing. Because nothing can hurt as much as what I'm feeling like right now."

They both sat in silence, the tears dropping down from Brooke's eyes, the heat of them melting the snow beneath them. She hugged her knees, needing comfort from anything. She began to shiver, it was so cold outside and she didn't have the proper clothes to be outside. She had just run to the cabin and then out to the place where she had sat with Luke for a couple of seconds before they had fallen onto the ground below. It felt like he was there with her, at least until he did in fact turn up. But now she was cold, her face was turning paler and her teeth began to chatter.

Lucas noticed this and so he reached out to put his arm round her. She stayed rigid, not settling into a comfortable position and so he brought his other arm round and pulled her to him. She was so weak that she couldn't protest or do anything to stop him. His arms held her, she knew that if they weren't, she would have fallen off the roof.

Lucas rested his head on hers as she started to cry once again. It hurt him that she was crying over things that he had done, and he didn't know if he would ever be able to see that Cheery smile she put on for him ever again. The tears started to fall from his eyed, landing on the top of her head. She felt them, but she honestly didn't know what to say to make him feel any better.

She looked up at him, she never expected him to cry over her. Yet he had, and that meant a lot to her. He'd had to let his guard down in front of her and she knew that would have been one of the hardest thing he ever had to do.

"I love you Luke. I tried to get over you, I was sat here trying to convince myself that I didn't need you, but I do. I know that everything won't be perfect for us but I really want us to-" Lucas silenced her by putting a finger to her lips.

"I love you too." She slowly lifted her head to look up at him. The tears had now dried on his face but his eyes were red. She knew she looked worse however, after crying almost none stop for hours, her eyes were puffy and… well she didn't want to think about it. But at that moment neither of them cared. They slowly moved together until their lips touched gently, the pressure just enough for each of them to realise how special this was to them. However the moment was cut short,

"Yipppeeeee-" The very loud shriek was cut off by a hand being clasped over the guilty party's mouth. Lucas and Brooke broke apart and smiled at each other before turning to look at the sight to the left of them.

"God Haley, I'm supposed to be the insensitive one?" Haley giggled guiltily and mouthed sorry to Brooke and Lucas.

"I'm sorry Nathan, but shoot me for getting so excited that these two are… well, I'm not sure what they are but from the fact that their lips were just locked together, I suspect that it's gotta be a good thing," Haley beamed up and winked at Brooke who smiled back.

"You know, if it had been me who had done that, I'd have been in trouble for weeks," Haley stuck out her bottom lip,

"Oh I know baby, but it was me who said it wasn't it?" Nathan sighed, exasperated, Haley could do anything and it would be alright by him. Within reason of course.

Nathan was interrupted from his thoughts with an outburst of 'ew' from Haley. He looked up to the roof and saw Lucas and Brooke with their lips glued to each other once again. Sure, he was happy that they had seemingly sorted out their differences, but they didn't have to be involved in a conversation one minute, and then starting going at it the very next second.

He noticed that Haley was about to shout something out but he motioned her to be quiet as he started to press snow into small spheres. He got one ready and began to aim when Haley gestured for him to wait. She made one herself and began to aim…

"One, two, three, fire!"

Both snowballs flew through the air, Nathan's straight towards Lucas' head and Haley's towards Brooke's. They both smirked at each other when the snow fell apart over the two lovebirds as they screeched and started to topple over backwards…

"Oh my god! Brooke, Luke! Are you ok?" Haley yelled, starting to run around the building towards them. Nathan followed quickly, it definitely sounded like they fell with a bang.

However they were both wrong; when they reached the other side where they thought Brooke and Lucas would be lying, fighting for their lives, they were actually getting ready to pelt Nathan and Haley with snowballs.

"OH no you do-" Nathan was attacked by Brooke and Haley by Luke, leaving neither of them time to run to cover. Soon, though, they were also making snowballs leading to a huge fight which only ended when they were all exhausted and they fell to the snowy ground.

Brooke smiled to herself. They'd made it through the last few weeks. Such a short space of time had felt like a lifetime to her, and she was sure for the others as well. They'd each found someone to love, and really they couldn't ask for more. Lucas had found his son, and it looked like him, Brooke and Billy were going to be a family together. You'd have thought this would be a scary thought for Brooke, but in fact she couldn't think of being anywhere else.

She had been the lowest places of her life over the past weeks, yet she had also been to some of the highest. She knew that the road ahead wasn't going to always be pretty, the sky wouldn't always be lit up by the sunshine, but that was going to make them stronger.

They just needed to hold on to each other.

XXX

THE END

XXX

Awwwww… this feels really sad, I've actually finished it! I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review and tell me what you thought…

I've got some ideas for some new stories, and I may start up "Singing Her Last Song" again, but at the moment I'm supposed to be revising, so it may not be today…

So I would like to say thank you so much to all of the people who have reviewed this story, they really brighten up my day even if they're only like three words!

I'm going to say thank you, but I'm only going to mention the ones on the most recent two pages of reviews, because I'm guessing you're probably not still reading if you haven't since then…. Soooo…

Sophia Valentine - Thankyou sooo much for your reviews! When I was really confsed about where to go with this, I asked you and you made me feel so much better about it… so I hope you enjoyed this ending and that things turned out the way you would have liked…?….! Xxx

Lilmonkeygirl - thanks so much for your reviews… I did try to start reviewing more regularly! Hope you liked the ending…

x-Brucas-Naley-Jeyton-x - Thanks for reviewing… hope youre happy with what happened at the end… oh and I know you didn't want Billy to be Lucas', and I really was thinking about including that, but I think luke would have looked after him anyway, so I didn't see much point, lol

Treenuh - Thankyouuu for reviews… hey, I don't mind you saying you love me, the more love declarations the better I'd say… teeeheee. Anyway hope you enjoyed reading this…

Naleysocute - Hope you enjoyed the ending, I definitely agreed with all your comments, hope what happened was okay foryou!

Also HUGE thanks to :- brucasroks, othdaddysgirl, prettygirl33,catcat51092 deli41321, starjoyce, Caitlyn, sam, liZ457 and LBHN lover……. And everyone else of course, I would have replied to you all individually but my fingers hurt, and I;m supposed to be revising…

So thank you for reading my story, hope you were happy with it… please review!


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